


The Human Malleability Project

by redrhapsody



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Anal Sex, Angst, Asphyxiation, Bloodplay, Coming Untouched, Danger Kink, Dark Romance, Emotional/Psychological Abuse, Fluff, Forcefeeding, Knifeplay, Light BDSM, Light Bondage, Light Dom/sub, M/M, Orgasm Delay/Denial, Pain Kink, Rough Sex, Roughplay, Sex Toys, Smut, Strangers to Lovers, Twisted love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-17
Updated: 2019-01-17
Packaged: 2019-10-11 17:00:22
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 30,969
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17450870
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/redrhapsody/pseuds/redrhapsody
Summary: Byun Baekhyun is an utterly ordinary university student who is simply quite bored with life. A chance encounter with the dashing employee at his local supermarket turns his life upside down completely. He falls in love with the supermarket employee's smile, unaware of what it hides.





	The Human Malleability Project

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first fic hope yall enjoy it! Also sorry for the rushed ending I was running out of steam but wanted to finish this fic because I thought it would be a waste to just abandon it.

**The Human Malleability Project**

Byun Baekhyun was bored. Terribly bored. Bored out of his mind.

 

He sat slouched on his excuse of a couch in his small dorm room, absentmindedly browsing through the pages of a manga he had long lost interest in. Something was only interesting if you were in the mood for it, and he was most certainly not in the mood to find an ordinarily compelling tale of children running away from sentient, ruthless, giant monsters whose only purpose seemed to be to capture, consume, _crush_ those young children _interesting_ in any semblance of the word.

 

Despite being a final-year student at the most prestigious university in South Korea, Baekhyun was far from busy. Rather, he had never been freer in his life. While most fourth-year students struggled with penning lengthy, hopeless, theses on the most obscure, niche topics imaginable which would never see the light of day in the overpopulated field of academia, Baekhyun, possessing no profound interest in any topic related to his major of pursuit – anthropology – had chosen the easy way out, and had simply taken modules to get the remaining credits he needed to graduate. As a bright-eyed freshman, he had signed up for the major talks during his university’s freshman orientation week and was baited by anthropology, by the prospect of studying everything about human beings, societies, civilisations long extinct, and most certainly not because anthropology, the way the five syllables rolled off his tongue sounded so smooth, so _exotic_ , and most certainly not for the sliver of satisfaction he felt whenever he introduced his major to strangers and saw confusion cloud their faces at the mention of the unfamiliar word before their expressions smoothed over to poorly feigned comprehension. Nope, Baekhyun had most certainly not been an impulsive, naïve, foolish freshman who had not known better before plunging headfirst into the world of dusty tomes, yawn-inducing, cough, _insightful_ , lectures and exam results fuelled by sheer rote memorisation.

 

So here he was, cooped up at home for the eighth day in a row, mindlessly browsing through random websites on his phone, with neither the motivation to study for his sole, final exam nearly two weeks away nor the inclination to start on the untouched stack of brand new video games piled up in a corner or the ones accumulated in his steam library because though games meant fun, starting on them meant _effort_. And effort was never fun.

 

Going out with friends and getting wasted at college parties was not an option either. Though Baekhyun was by no means socially inept, he was not the most sociable person either, with approximately one friend to his name. He had long since given up on making friends who lasted more than a semester’s worth of group projects together and only bothered to keep in contact with the sole friend he had kept from high school, Kim Jongdae. Their personalities were actually quite different, clashing even. At a party, Jongdae would be the friendly, sociable guy going up to talk to everyone, slinging an arm casually over strangers and instantly calling them friends while Baekhyun would be the awkward loner sticking to the darkest, emptiest corner he could find, avoiding eye contact with anyone who even so much as glanced his way and fiddling with his phone for lack of better things to do. Ironically, Baekhyun had met Jongdae at a high school party he had been forced to attend with his then-classmates, and it was Jongdae who had reached out to him with a bright smile. Despite the fact that they were as different as night and day, Jongdae helped Baekhyun step out of his shell, and Baekhyun grew to appreciate Jongdae’s overwhelming cheerfulness. Unfortunately, after graduating from high school, they had ended up in different universities, with Jongdae attending a university on the outskirts of the city. To say that their universities were far apart was optimistic. They were literally located on opposite ends of the city. The long distance and busy college lifestyles eventually weighed down on the high school friends, resulting in increasingly infrequent meetings between the two.

 

Thus Baekhyun’s current predicament. He yawned, raising his arms above his head and stretching his legs like a cat. He could hear a few cracks coming from his shoulders. _I really should stop sleeping till noon huh_. He glanced at the smartphone in his hand, peering through the cracks on the screen protector to decipher the time. _17:30._ Well, there was still some time to kill before dinner. _Maybe I should get some groceries_ , he thought, as he remembered that it was Sunday and the fridge was nearly empty. The one good thing about Baekhyun was that lazy as he may be, he was still capable of feeding himself without burning down his room and producing a rather decent, tasty, albeit simple, meal at that. But of course he couldn’t put his culinary skills to use if there was approximately nothing save for some bars of chocolate for those late-night cravings in the fridge. And he wasn’t a fan of take-out either. It was expensive, and a college student’s got to save what he can.

 

So out he went, slipping on his slightly worn but still chic, he liked to think, teddy bear brown coat on, the fabric extending past his knees and stopping at the mid-calf region, stylish cuts made at the back to create an effect of the fabric billowing in the wind and slipped into his trusty black boots, which were slightly slippery from overuse and frankly dangerous at this time of year when the pavements were often covered with the after-effects of rain or a slight dusting of snow but he didn’t care. They had cool studs at the side and it wasn’t like they were broken or anything so he stubbornly continued to wear them despite them having been the cause of one too many unfortunate falls on his face.

 

Despite being only early evening, the sky was already darkening to cobalt by the time Baekhyun got out of his dorm and onto the main street leading to the nearby 24h supermarket. The days were getting shorter, harkening the impending arrival of winter. It was getting colder too, and Baekhyun was acutely reminded of that as a sudden gust of wind sent his coat tails flying and he instinctively pulled the front of his coat together, taking small but hurried steps towards the warmth of the supermarket.

 

Once inside, he grabbed a green basket by the cashier, not intending to buy much beyond the basic necessities, and immediately headed towards the vegetables section. He usually got potatoes, carrots, cabbage, anything that would last and was versatile enough to be used in a variety of dishes. He saw some mushrooms on sale and decided to get those too. He then strode purposefully towards the meat section, eyeing what seemed to be the last piece of chicken thigh on the shelf. As he was making his way there, out of the corner of his eye, Baekhyun noticed another hand reaching towards _his salvation for the week_. The tall aisles blocked his view, such that Baekhyun could not see who the hand belonged to, but he could hardly give a damn. No matter who that person was, he was not getting between Baekhyun and his meat.

 

With the fire of determination coursing through his veins, Baekhyun increased his already brisk pace even more, almost running towards the meat section. Baekhyun was still a few metres away but the outstretched hand was getting closer and closer… At this rate, he wouldn’t make it.

 

Throwing caution (and his dignity) to the winds, Baekhyun broke into a mad dash, the slipperiness of his boots and the too smooth, condensation-glazed tiles momentarily forgotten in the desperate pursuit of his salvation from a rabbit’s diet.

 

_I’m almost there!_ Baekhyun thought triumphantly, his hand reaching towards his salvation, completely oblivious to the dark-haired stranger’s eyes widening in shock as he saw Baekhyun tumbling out of nowhere towards the frozen meat section.

 

Just as Baekhyun’s fingers were about to graze the cool, smooth plastic packaging which encased his salvation, his left foot slipped on a puddle of condensation leaking from the shelves and with his balance completely thrown off by the weird yoga-esque pose he was in – right hand outstretched and left leg about to be splayed out – he fell headfirst into something somewhat hard yet somewhat warm at the same time and before he knew it the chicken was out of his sight and he was tumbling onto the ground on top of that mysterious warm wall…

 

“Sir, are you alright?”

 

A deep velvety voice jolted him back to reality. Baekhyun blinked. Once. Twice. _Oh shit._ He was currently sprawled out on the owner of the unfamiliar voice who had his back pressed to the cold, hard floor of the supermarket, rendered immobile by Baekhyun’s weight on him, beside the large signboard with the words “FROZEN MEAT” printed on it.

_So that was what that warm feeling was…_

 

Baekhyun’s cheek was pressed against the stranger’s chest and he could hear the mildly erratic rhythm of his heart. Baekhyun had instinctively reached out to grab something, anything to cushion the fall with his right hand and instead of the frozen chicken he had been expecting, his fingertips were currently caressing what seemed to be the smooth cheek of a person. His legs were sprawled out uselessly, right leg on top of the stranger’s own and his left calf meeting the cold surface of the floor but with a strangely soft and warm sensation on his left knee.

 

At this moment, Baekhyun knew, he just knew, that on top of grabbing the stranger’s face and headbutting his chest at the same time, he had also kneed his dick. Great.

 

Shoppers in the vicinity were starting to stare. Two middle-aged women tut tutted and shot them disapproving glares before click-clacking away in their dated wrinkly leather heels. Baekhyun finally realised that he couldn’t stay in that compromising position forever and made to get up.

 

“I’m so sorry!” He gasped, pushing himself off the man and standing up quickly, his face turning a vibrant shade of red.

 

The stranger slowly stood up, rubbing his lower back and wincing in pain slightly, as he readjusted his cap and settled his gaze on Baekhyun.

 

The man was at least a head taller than him, sporting blue pants, a striped blue short-sleeved shirt and an employee’s cap atop his messy, tousled black locks. His glasses had been knocked slightly askew by the previous collision and he adjusted them slightly such that they were sitting firmly on his nose. It was then that Baekhyun noticed the shiny tag inscribed with the name “Park Chanyeol” on his uniform.

 

“Sir, are you alright? Did you hurt yourself?” The man, _Park Chanyeol_ , asked once again, a kind smile adorning his face as he brushed off some dirt from his trousers.

 

“Ah… I-I’m fine. Are you ok? I-I’m so sorry for bumping into you…” Baekhyun stammered, mortified.

 

“I’m glad to hear that sir. Thank you for your concern, but I am fine,” the man smiled again in reply, politely ignoring the flush on Baekhyun’s pale face. He reached into the shelf with the isolated piece of chicken and held it out to Baekhyun.

 

“Sir, I believe you were looking for this? Unfortunately, this piece of chicken is no longer fresh, and I was about to put it away,” Chanyeol explained.

 

Oh. _OH._ Baekhyun felt the blush on his face deepen as he realised that the man was indeed no conniving chicken thief but simply a diligent supermarket employee who was doing his job. And Baekhyun had to go and… Rush to the aisle like a madman and even push him down… Oh god, the embarrassment was almost too much to bear.

 

“Sir? Sir?” said employee tried again, voice slightly louder and it was only then that Baekhyun realised he was trying to catch his attention, having been lost in his own flustered thoughts.

 

“Ah! S-sorry, you were saying?”

 

“Um, sir, I was saying that it is our negligence for having left a stale piece of meat on the shelves and I truly apologise for that.” He bowed deeply.

 

“Y-you don’t need to apologise…” Baekhyun started.

 

“Thank you for being so understanding sir,” the supermarket employee smiled once again, what seemed to be amusement tilting up the side of his lips for a second before they returned to his usual polite smile.

 

“While we have run out of chicken for today, we still have an extensive selection of pork, beef and fish to offer, if you would be interested in that, sir.”

 

“I-I see. Um, thank you very much but I think I’m done for today.” Baekhyun gestured to his full basket, feet already turning towards the cashiers, wanting nothing more than to get out of the supermarket and hide under his covers till he could forget the embarrassment of the day than anything else.

 

“Oh, I see. Have a good day sir,” Chanyeol chirped, dark eyes resting on the rapidly retreating figure in front of him for a split-second before turning back into the storage room briskly, the stale piece of chicken in hand.

 

 

 

 

Back in the safety of his dorm and huddled under the warmth of the covers, Baekhyun allowed himself a few moments of rolling around in mortification before an especially violent roll landed him on the tiled floor with a loud thump and blankets splayed out all around him.

 

“Ow…” Baekhyun groaned, sitting up and rubbing his most likely bruised elbow, cursing himself for his clumsiness and for falling down for the second time in the span of less than an hour. Except that this time, there was no warm, soft, supermarket store employee to collide into, except the cold, hard surface of the unforgiving concrete floor.

 

Try as he might, he couldn’t stop himself from reliving the incidents of the past 30mins from rushing into his head like a bullet-train speeding towards its destination even as he busied himself with placing the contents of his shopping bags into his miserably miniature fridge and taking out some vegetables for today’s dinner. The way he had dashed like a madman towards a stale piece of meat, how he had crashed into that poor supermarket employee and landed on top of him, the way the passing shoppers’ stares had bored into the back of his head… Oh god, he just wanted to forget the entire embarrassing incident completely, he thought, hand slightly shaking as he made quick work of the cabbage and tossed it into the frying pan.

 

It didn’t help that the employee - his name was Chanyeol, wasn’t it? - had been so nice to him despite Baekhyun having bumped into him so violently and it sure as hell didn’t help that he was somewhat… Kind of… Attractive… Baekhyun could still remember his large, round eyes framed by round-rimmed glasses, his messy, tousled dark locks, his charming smile, the warmth of his chest… And oh my god was that smoke he was smelling?

 

“Shit!”

 

While lost in thought Baekhyun’s hand, which was gripping the spatula, had paused in mid-air above the heated-up frying pan which was now filled with rapidly blackening cabbage. He frantically switched off the stove as thick smoke started billowing from it and threw the remnants of his newly bought cabbage into the bin. He had yet to burn down any property during his cooking career of three years and he was not about to die of asphyxiation in his tiny, enclosed dorm room.

 

Baekhyun emitted a huge sigh before turning to the cupboard above the fridge and grabbing some cup noodles. He was too mentally exhausted to cook and did not want to risk burning down his room again so instant ramyeon it was, a sad reminder of the sorry state of his kitchen and his non-existent love life. After all, no one had yet to ask him to “ramyeon and chill”.

 

 

 

 

A week passed. Baekhyun spent it lounging around his room as usual, being about as productive as a slime. He had deliberately immersed himself in heavy dosages of games, manga and any form of indoor entertainment conceivable in a futile bid to forget the incident of last Sunday. He had even made the effort to start on some of the new games in his steam library but try as he might, thoughts of the supermarket store employee with the cute smile and sparkling eyes wouldn’t leave his mind. Wait, cute? Sparkling? What the hell. He wasn’t a heroine of a cheesy shoujo manga whose eyes turned to hearts whenever she saw her prince charming. Or maybe he was… Whenever he closed his eyes, thoughts of the supermarket employee named Park Chanyeol would float across his mind, making him blush inadvertently when he recalled how it had felt to fall into his embrace.

 

Baekhyun sat up from his bed and shook his head violently, desperately trying to clear his mind of Chanyeol. As expected, it was useless. He just couldn’t stop thinking of the tall, dark-haired man. It was completely absurd, considering that he was practically a stranger. Baekhyun strongly believed that he was a normal person. All his life, he had believed that he was normal. He was of average height, he considered his looks to be average, his grades were pretty average (ok maybe above average if you consider that he made it into the top university in South Korea), his lifestyle was that of an average college student (cough couch potato), and he had never done anything particularly outstanding in his life. Yet his preoccupation with the supermarket employee was not normal. It surely wasn’t normal to keep thinking about some guy you don’t even know for an entire week even if you did actually fall on top of him and knee his dick in the process. Ok maybe it wasn’t so abnormal anymore?

 

“Argh!” A yell of frustration escaped Baekhyun’s lips. He was so confused and all this thinking was just giving him a headache. He decided to stop thinking and nibble on some chocolate from his fridge. Chocolate would surely cure everything.

 

Baekhyun strolled to his fridge, anticipating munching into a bar of sinful dark chocolate, feeling it melt in his mouth, until he stopped, stock still, as he was greeted with the sight of…

 

Nothing. _Nothing_.

 

His fridge was absolutely empty. There was not even a scrap of food left. In his slothfulness during the past week he had failed to ration his limited supplies and may or may not have treated himself to larger portions than usual and a hefty helping of snacks.

 

_Crap, this means I need to head to the supermarket…_ The realisation immediately made him recall the embarrassing incident he had been trying so hard to forget in vivid detail and Baekhyun groaned. He really did not want to return to the supermarket and potentially bump into the supermarket employee who had haunted his thoughts. Baekhyun simply stood in front of his fridge for a good 10 minutes, unsure of what to do.

 

The logical part of him told him that the state of his fridge was something which could not be ignored and no matter how much Baekhyun wanted to, he could not possibly avoid the supermarket forever. It was after all, the closest and most convenient place to obtain groceries.

 

A few more minutes of internal conflict later, sensibility finally won out. Baekhyun grimaced as he laced up his boots and put on his coat, determination and resolve flowing through him. It was just a simple grocery trip, and he may not even bump into him, Baekhyun reassured himself. He was being way too paranoid. With that, he stepped out into the empty corridor and shut his dorm door behind him.

 

 

 

 

The walk to the supermarket was short and uneventful. Once inside, Baekhyun steeled himself, grabbed a basket, and went about his usual routine, getting some vegetables and chocolate before striding towards the frozen meat section, albeit a tad more cautious about any unsuspecting puddles on the floor waiting to make his life a walking embarrassment once again.

 

Any potential crises seemed to have been averted, and this time there was still plenty of fresh chicken stocked on the shelves. Baekhyun took a piece from the middle shelf, then after a slight pause, took another for good measure, thinking that if he bought more supplies, he probably wouldn’t need to come back to the supermarket so often.

 

All was done, items on his shopping list ticked off and Baekhyun was about to head to the cashier and get the hell out of this place when he saw _him_. Or more accurately, Baekhyun caught a glimpse of those dark eyes framed by round-rimmed glasses before he hurried past him towards the cashier’s register just a few metres ahead.

 

“Have a good day sir.” The words were left on the tip of Chanyeol’s tongue as the small figure scurried past, head ducked low, not even sparing a glance at him. Chanyeol had to fight to keep the smirk off his face, forcing on a neutral expression.

 

_Amusing,_ he thought to himself, as he continued stocking the shelves like the diligent supermarket employee he was.

 

 

 

_Baekhyun was in his neighbourhood supermarket, buying groceries as usual. As he headed to the frozen meat section to get some chicken, he noticed that there was only one piece left on the shelves and another hand was reaching towards the chicken._

_Baekhyun ran as fast as his legs would carry him, even shoving past people in his way. It was irrational, but he just knew that he wanted that piece of meat no matter what. He was reaching the shelf, the chicken was almost in his grasp, when he felt his legs give way beneath him and before he knew it he was tumbling to the ground, head buried in a warm chest, strong arms encasing him._

_Baekhyun looked up. His chocolate brown eyes met round eyes framed by round-rimmed spectacles. Before he could process anything, the supermarket employee beneath him had shifted their positions, such that the taller man was now on top, his legs straddling Baekhyun’s hips._

_Baekhyun flushed at the intimate position. Chanyeol’s dark eyes were boring into his with a strange sort of intensity. Baekhyun was transfixed by his gaze, unable to do anything except wait with bated breath._

_Chanyeol grasped his wrists, pinning them to the ground as he leaned down and captured Baekhyun’s lips. His tongue pushed against Baekhyun’s lips insistently and the latter parted his lips automatically. Chanyeol delved his tongue into Baekhyun’s mouth forcefully, kissing him so passionately that Baekhyun felt as if he was being devoured. The contrast between the rough kiss and the supermarket employee’s gentle appearance only turned Baekhyun on more and he kissed back eagerly._

_The kiss felt so good, and Baekhyun found himself panting for air when their lips finally came apart, a string of saliva connecting them. Baekhyun unconsciously bucked his hips up, and the friction made him moan wantonly. He felt large hands slip under his shirt, roaming over every inch of skin they could find, and it felt so good that Baekhyun didn’t ever want it to stop. He wanted more, more…_

"RINGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG"

 

The shrill sound of an alarm pierced the air, instantly jerking Baekhyun awake. He groaned and blindly reached about for his phone, finally finding the damned thing buried under his pillow. It took a few tries for his clumsy fingers to swipe the screen but at last he succeeded and was rewarded with silence.

 

Though the problem of the noisy alarm had been resolved, Baekhyun soon came face to face with another problem as he sat up and pulled the covers away. He was hard as hell.

 

Like any normal, healthy male, Baekhyun suffered from morning wood. He knew that very well. But this, this was different. He hadn’t experienced _this_ since he was a hormonal teen in high school. Images of his dream soon came flooding into his brain, causing him to bury his face into his pillow in sheer embarrassment. He couldn’t believe that he had a wet dream at age 23 and even worse, he actually had a wet dream of the supermarket employee. This was certainly not normal, was it?

 

Fine, he would admit it. Park Chanyeol was his type. Totally his type. He had a thing for tall men in spectacles with cute smiles and Park Chanyeol ticked every one of his boxes. Even so, having a wet dream of a complete stranger? How low he had stooped.

 

_What if you get to know him? Then he won’t be a stranger anymore_ , a small voice in his head whispered.

 

Get to know him… Get to know Park Chanyeol? He couldn’t even trust himself to utter a coherent sentence in front of the other, let alone get to know him better.

 

Baekhyun sighed. He extracted himself from the pillow and rolled onto his side, trying his best to ignore his aching dick and preoccupying himself with his phone instead. No messages as usual. He clicked on his calendar app, intending on checking his schedule. If he remembered correctly, he was supposed to have an exam around this period of time.

 

Wait a second. Exam. _EXAM._ He had an exam for Introduction to Biology on the 26th.

 

_What day is it today?_ His eyes scanned the calendar on his phone till it landed on today’s date. 25 November. Shit. His exam was the next day and he had completely forgotten about it and hadn’t touched his books at all. Crap. The realisation killed his boner completely, all thoughts of Park Chanyeol having flown out the window at the prospect of this very real and urgent crisis right now.

 

The exam was for Introduction to Biology, a module Baekhyun had only taken to fulfil his stupid university’s requirements of having to read a selected number of modules outside one’s major for the purposes of “broadening our students’ knowledge and giving them a holistic education”. He had regretted it the instant he realised that biology just meant more rote memorisation but 10 times harder with all the unfamiliar scientific terms he had to cram into his head. Though Baekhyun wasn’t the type to chase straight As and perfect grades, he certainly didn’t want to fail this module and have to repeat the travesty the following semester.

 

_Seems like I’ll have to stay up tonight_.

 

Baekhyun sighed again. The last time he had burnt the midnight oil was three years ago, when he was studying for the college entrance exams.

 

He got ready to head out, intending to purchase a pack of red bull from the supermarket. He had long since become immune to caffeine so red bull would have to do.

 

 

 

 

Baekhyun was so caught up in the general fuckery of his situation that for the first time in two weeks, memories of that supermarket employee left his mind momentarily. Baekhyun didn’t want to waste any more of the limited time he had left looking for red bull among the numerous rows and shelves of the large supermarket so he decided to simply tap the nearest employee on the shoulder and ask.

 

“Excuse me, do you know where the red bull is?”

 

The employee paused their job of pasting labels on packages and turned around slowly, meeting Baekhyun’s gaze from a position approximately 10cm higher.

 

Baekhyun gulped. Of all the employees in the store, why oh why did he have to ask the one he had pushed down nearly two weeks ago and had a wet dream about this morning?

 

If Chanyeol noticed Baekhyun’s flabbergasted expression or the reddish tinge of his ears, he didn’t point them out and simply smiled his usual polite, friendly supermarket employee smile as he gazed at the short figure bundled in the same teddy bear brown coat with the coattails and the same thread hanging loose from the right sleeve standing in front of him.

 

“Sir, red bull is located in the aisle under coffee and drinks. Shall I lead you there?” he inquired politely.

 

“T-thank you very much.” Baekhyun muttered, looking away and trying his best not to turn into a flaming rock.

 

They walked to the aisle in silence, Baekhyun shuffling his feet behind Chanyeol, careful to maintain an appropriate distance between them. Though the coffee and drinks section could only be two aisles’ away at best, getting there felt like an eternity as Baekhyun forced his wooden legs to move.

 

“Here we are.” Chanyeol announced.

 

Baekhyun nearly bumped into Chanyeol as he stopped abruptly and gestured at the bottom row of the aisle, stacked full with cartons of red bull.

 

“T-thank you.”

 

Baekhyun hurriedly knelt down and heaved a 6-pack of red bull into his arms. He was about to escape to the cashier’s as usual when a deep voice stopped him in his tracks.

 

“Sir!”

 

Baekhyun whipped around. It was 10pm and there weren’t many people left in the supermarket. Chanyeol stood alone in the aisle, facing Baekhyun.

 

Baekhyun stood still, biting his lip nervously as he watched the taller man advance towards him, closing the distance until only a metre separated them.

 

They were the only people in the aisle.

 

For some reason, the supermarket’s usual jingle had stopped playing and a heavy silence enveloped them.

 

Chanyeol paused in his steps. At a loss for what to do, Baekhyun just continued staring dumbly.

 

The taller finally opened his mouth to speak.

 

“I just wanted to say, please take care not to consume too much red bull, it is not good for health sir.” Chanyeol smiled warmly, revealing a set of pearly white teeth.

 

“B-Baekhyun.”

 

“Pardon?”

 

“Baekhyun. Byun Baekhyun. That’s my name. You don’t need to keep calling me sir.” Baekhyun uttered softly, his voice almost inaudible.

 

“ _Baekhyun_ ,” the other pronounced slowly, as if savouring the way it rolled off his tongue.

 

“That’s a pretty name. You may know this already, but I’m Chanyeol. Park Chanyeol,” the supermarket employee smiled, pointing to his name tag.

 

“G-good night Chanyeol,” Baekhyun mumbled, scurrying off before the other could reply.

 

_Good night Baekhyun._

 

The words were left unspoken.

 

 

 

 

Baekhyun was back at his dorm, empty cans of red bull strewn on the floor as his overly awake brain struggled to remember the names and functions of the different enzymes.

 

_Protease is for breaking down protein._

He had given him his name.

 

_Maltase breaks down maltose into two units of glucose._

Why had he done that?

 

_Lipase digests fats into fatty acids and glycerol._

It was just on a whim, it wasn’t as if he had subconsciously wanted to get to know him better. He was just tired and stupid and impulsive and it certainly hadn’t been because that smile and those dark eyes had been haunting his dreams for the past two weeks.

 

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!”

 

Baekhyun yelled out loud, drawing out the shout for as long as he could, until an annoyed knock on his ceiling forced him to shut up.

 

This was too much, too much thinking for his foggy brain. He needed to focus on the exam which was just four hours away.

 

His… Feelings, or whatever you could call it, for the supermarket employee, for _Park Chanyeol_ , would have to wait till then.

 

Baekhyun gave himself a few good slaps and cracked his knuckles, resuming his focus on the thick Biology textbook in front of him.

 

 

 

 

It was a typical day at the supermarket. Customers streamed in, mostly housewives armed with shopping bags, walking through the various sections of the brightly-lit supermarket, a cheesy jingle serving as their background music.

 

Chanyeol placed packet after packet of frozen chicken onto the shelves methodically, with the practised ease of someone who had performed the routine task a million times. He had been assigned to the frozen meat section today.

 

His favourite section.

 

Chanyeol grinned to himself and resumed his work. His co-workers disliked this section the most, always complaining about clammy meat and freezing fingers but oh, Chanyeol loved those sensations, the feeling of soft, malleable meat tightly sealed in cling wrap curving around his fingers, the way it would harden upon contact with cold air, the slightly burning, _refreshing_ , cold when he dipped his hands into a freezer… Oh, Chanyeol loved it all.

 

It was evening now; usually he only worked evening shifts, having classes in the day at the nearby university, but it was the holidays and he simply took any shifts that were assigned to him. As the day went on, the crowd changed, morphing into a steady stream of haggard-looking businessmen coming in to purchase the last few bento boxes left on the shelves for a makeshift, somewhat nutritious dinner.

 

Chanyeol hadn’t seen Baekhyun ever since that Sunday night where the latter had asked for red bull and told him his name.

 

_Baekhyun, huh?_ He was certainly an intriguing soul, that little one. He still remembered the weight, the warmth of the slightly smaller boy’s body on his as he had crashed them to the floor that fateful day a little more than two weeks ago. He still remembered the way the smaller had glanced up at him through puppy-like, downturned eyes opened wide in shock, the way he had nervously licked his lips, coating them in glistening saliva, the way a baby pink flush had crept across his cheeks and ears, the way his small body, radiating with warmth, felt on top of his own, the way his long, slim fingers and recently-clipped nails had grazed his cheek, the way his left knee had fondled his dick somewhat aggressively…

 

Quite unlike him, he had found his thoughts flitting back to the petite brunette every now and then, as he carried out his duties at the supermarket, as he conducted his experiments at his laboratory, even in the intimacy of his sheets. His unusual interest in the boy had him looking forward to his visits to the supermarket, anticipating what the boy would do next. Chanyeol had to admit, it was _thrilling_.

 

“Chanyeol? Chanyeol!” a faraway, unfamiliar yet familiar voice called, just as he was about to resume concentrating on his job.

 

Chanyeol took a moment to steady himself, taking a surreptitious deep breath to calm his racing heart before he schooled a practised expression of professional neutrality over his face and turned to face the owner of that strangely familiar voice, with that slightly raspy yet sweet timbre to it which sent tingles down his spine when it called his name in that lovely manner…

 

_Oh, the little lamb came back._

 

“Yes? Oh, if it isn’t Baekhyun.”

 

Chanyeol feigned surprise as he took in the sight of the boy standing before him, who was peering up at him through long eyelashes. An unruly strand of reddish-brown hair stuck out at the back of his head and Chanyeol had to fight the impulse to smooth it down.

 

“Um, do you happen to work around here?” The boy asked, before realisation dawned on his face and a blush slowly crept onto his cheeks.

 

“Well, as you can see, I am an employee at this store.” Chanyeol replied, slightly amused.

 

“O-oh y-yes of course I know that! W-what I meant was… Um… I-I always see you around this time so I was wondering if you work the evening shift.” The smaller figure let out in a huff.

 

“Yes, I do. I work the evening shift from 5pm till 7 on weekdays. But it’s the holidays now so sometimes I get random shifts too.” Chanyeol replied evenly, still smiling that warm smile of his.

 

“In fact,” he checked his watch, “My shift will actually be ending in half an hour’s time,” he continued.

 

Baekhyun simply stared at him in silence.

 

The silence dragged out for perhaps a tad too long and Chanyeol started to wonder if he had said something wrong.

 

_That’s strange, should I not have given him so much information?_

 

Just as he was about to speak and apologise for stepping out of line, the boy spoke again, his words coming out in a rush.

 

“W-willyougooutwithme?”

 

Chanyeol just stared at him, completely taken aback. He had most certainly not been expecting such a bold move from the shy-looking boy.

 

The boy hurriedly opened his mouth to speak again.

 

“I-I mean, o-of course that’s not what I meant! I just meant, um, would you like to go out for dinner? Si-since your shift is ending soon. It’s my treat. As an a-apology, f-for what happened t-that time…” The boy trailed off, getting visibly less and less confident as Chanyeol still did not reply.

 

_How cute_.

 

Chanyeol fought to keep his smirk down as he forced himself to reply.

 

“You don’t need to apologise actually. It was an accident after all.”

 

The boy’s face fell.

 

“But I would love to.”

 

“Go for dinner with you, that is.” Chanyeol finished, adding a smile for good measure.

 

The boy’s entire face lit up, like a puppy who had received its favourite treat and a wide smile broke out on his face. The corners of his eyes crinkled adorably as he smiled brightly at Chanyeol.

 

“R-really? That’s great! I-I mean, t-thank you so much! Um, I’ll be waiting at the entrance so, see you in 30mins?”

 

“Sure, see you.”

 

Chanyeol observed the small figure who had turned towards the entrance of the supermarket, evidently trying but failing to hide a skip in his step, until he was out of sight, before turning back to the task at hand.

 

The chicken in his hands was soft and malleable, almost pliant even.

 

He smirked as he carefully placed it onto the ice-cold shelf.

 

He couldn’t wait for his shift to end.

 

 

 

 

Baekhyun was pacing up and down near the entrance of the supermarket, causing the automatic sliding doors to open and close, open and close, every time he passed by them. Several incoming customers stared at him strangely and he almost bumped into some of them but he couldn’t care less at this moment. His mind was reeling.

 

What had he just done?

 

Sometimes, Baekhyun really questioned his life choices. Why he chose anthropology, of all things to major in, why he chose Introduction to Biology instead of some other easy, less content-heavy module to clear, and most of all why on earth did he just rush to the supermarket after his exam was over and ask that supermarket employee out!

 

_It must be the red bull_ , he thought, all questionable decisions made in life were the fault of that damned energy drink which was tripping up his overly alert brain and making it go into overdrive.

 

The exam had proceeded about as smoothly as Baekhyun’s tongue whenever he tried talking to the supermarket employee, _Chanyeol_ , he reminded himself, _I really should stop calling him supermarket employee in my mind, he has a name for god’s sake!_

 

Baekhyun just hoped that he would be able to scrape a pass. After that tragedy of a paper was over, his feet had brought him to the supermarket again, for some reason, because he wanted to replenish his chocolate supply so he could mope the night away and not because he wanted to see said supermarket employee. Nope.

 

So in he had walked, on slightly unsteady feet, still tripped up on red bull and he had spotted said supermarket employee at the fateful frozen meat section where they had met, diligently doing his job as usual, stacking packets of frozen chicken on the shelves.

 

Baekhyun had paused to admire his silhouette for a moment, admiring the long, lean lines of his body crouched over the wagon of frozen goods, the way his eyebrows scrunched up every now and then as he read the labels on the packets, the visible veins on his large hands as he retrieved a stack of packets from the wagon and carefully placed them on the shelves. He was reminded of the dream he had only a few days ago, where he had been pinned to the ground by those very hands which were handling the packets of meat.

 

Baekhyun blushed. No, no, what was he thinking? What was he even doing here? He took a deep breath and composed himself. He would just go over and greet Chanyeol like any other normal customer. They had exchanged names after all (more like Baekhyun had randomly blurted out his name) and it was perfectly fine for him to just go over and make some small talk.

 

After a few more bouts of convincing himself, Baekhyun walked towards the frozen meat section with slow, measured steps, determined not to slip and fall this time. The cold air emanating from the shelves seemed to strengthen his resolve as he cleared his throat and called out.

 

“Chanyeol?”

 

No response. Perhaps Chanyeol was too engrossed in his work.

 

“Chanyeol!” He tried again, a little louder.

 

Said man turned around, his dark eyes, still framed by those round-rimmed glasses, landing on Baekhyun’s small figure.

 

“Yes? Oh, if it isn’t Baekhyun.” The man smiled at him and Baekhyun felt his addled brain melt a bit. _He remembers me_ , he thought. But of course, who would forget someone who pushed you down and kneed your dick in public? The memories of two weeks’ ago came rushing into his head again and he fought to keep his blush down.

 

The silence was stretching out and Baekhyun realised that the man was waiting for a response. In a frenzy, Baekhyun opened his mouth and simply uttered the first things that came to mind.

 

“Um, do you happen to work around here?”

 

As soon as the words had left his mouth Baekhyun cursed himself for his stupidity. It was just like him to spout nonsense when he was nervous. _Of course he works here you idiot, now he’s going to think you’re stupid._

 

“Well, as you can see, I am an employee at this store,” the employee replied, a slightly bemused smile on his face.

 

“O-oh y-yes of course I know that! W-what I meant was… Um… I-I always see you around this time so I was wondering if you work the evening shift,” Baekhyun hastily amended.

 

The man proceeded to tell him about his shift timings. _5 to 7 on weekdays huh, no wonder I always run into him._

 

“… My shift will actually be ending in half an hour’s time.”

 

_Wait what did he just say that his shift was ending?_

 

Baekhyun opened his mouth to speak again, and before his brain could catch up with his mouth, he was blurting out the words, “will you go out with me” in a garbled mess.

 

The supermarket employee just stared back at him with a dumbfounded expression.

 

Baekhyun panicked. What the hell was he doing?

 

“I-I mean, o-of course that’s not what I meant! I just meant, um, would you like to go out for dinner? It’s my treat. As an a-apology, f-for what happened t-that time…” Baekhyun trailed off, wanting nothing more than to sink into the floor as Chanyeol continued to stare at him.

 

_What have I done…_ Baekhyun thought. Just as he was about to give up and go back and hide his face under his covers and never visit the supermarket again, Chanyeol spoke.

 

“You don’t need really to apologise actually. It was an accident after all.”

 

_Oh._

 

“But I would love to.”

 

_What?_

 

“Go for dinner with you, that is.” Chanyeol finished, smiling that warm smile of his once again.

 

Baekhyun couldn’t believe his ears. Neither could he stop the relieved smile spreading across his face.

 

“R-really? That’s great! I-I mean, t-thank you so much! Um, I’ll be waiting at the entrance so, see you in 30mins?”

 

“Sure, see you.”

 

Baekhyun couldn’t believe it. Supermarket employee, _Park_ _Chanyeol_ , had agreed to go for dinner with him? This was crazy, and what he had done was crazy too. He supposed that being impulsive had its merits as well, if it allowed him to score a date with his crush.

 

“Hey.”

 

Baekhyun spun around, and saw Chanyeol, dressed in a light grey coat paired with black slacks and a white turtleneck. The employee’s cap was off, releasing his hair in its full messy glory. A brown satchel was hanging off his right shoulder and he wore plain white sneakers. Although his clothes were casual, Baekhyun thought he looked absolutely stunning. If anything, he looked even more handsome than he already was, if that was even possible. Baekhyun couldn’t help but stare for a bit before he realised that he was blatantly staring and he should say something.

 

“O-oh hey! Y-you’ve changed out of your uniform.”

 

“This? Oh, well I usually change out after work. It’s quite cold you see, and the uniform doesn’t provide much warmth,” Chanyeol smiled.

 

“So… Do you wanna grab some pizza? I know a good place down the road.”

 

“Sure, pizza sounds good.” Chanyeol nodded and beckoned him to lead the way.

 

The pizza place was only a few blocks down from the supermarket. The evening air was chilly and Baekhyun shuddered, pulling his coat closer to him. Chanyeol walked beside him, long strides slowing down deliberately to match Baekhyun’s pace.

 

It was the taller of the two who broke the silence first.

 

“So, do you live around here? I noticed that you visit this supermarket a lot,” Chanyeol commented, eyes crinkling.

 

“Oh, I actually live at the university dorm nearby. I’m a final year student.”

 

“Yonggwang University? Wow, what a coincidence, I study there too.” Chanyeol replied.

 

Baekhyun raised an eyebrow in surprise. That had certainly not been a coincidence he was expecting.

 

“Yup I major in anthropology,” replied Baekhyun, glancing over to check for that familiar expression of confusion which flitted across most people’s faces when they heard the word.

 

“Oh, anthropology! That’s rare. Not many people major in that. It’s about the study of human behaviour and societies right? I find it really interesting.”

 

“You know about anthropology?” Baekhyun asked, surprised that Chanyeol had known of it as he swung open the door to the pizza place and held up two fingers to the waiter.

 

It turned out that not only was Chanyeol quite knowledgeable about anthropology, he was also in his final year, making them the same age. Baekhyun learnt that Chanyeol was a biology major and worked part-time at the local supermarket to pay rent while working on his final year project.

 

“Speaking of biology, I just had a biology exam today. It was terrible.” Baekhyun whined.

 

“Oh really? Is that why you bought a pack of red bull yesterday? You know, I could’ve helped you with that,” Chanyeol teased.

 

“Urgh, shut up.”

 

The meal proceeded with pleasant conversation, with the two finding out that they shared common interests in gaming and cat-mecha animes. Despite being quite shy and reserved in front of people he wasn’t familiar with, Baekhyun found himself relaxing in Chanyeol’s presence, and he just wanted to keep talking to the other and find out more about him.

 

Soon, the plates had been cleared and it was time to leave. Baekhyun was about to pay for the bill but Chanyeol insisted on paying for his share. They eventually settled with going dutch.

 

They left the restaurant then, stepping out into the cool night air.

 

“Thanks for today, it was really fun.” Baekhyun smiled shyly up at Chanyeol.

 

“I really enjoyed myself too.” Chanyeol answered Baekhyun’s smile with a smile of his own, the corners of his eyes turning up.

 

“Are you heading back to the dorm?” Chanyeol asked.

 

Baekhyun nodded in reply.

 

“Let me walk you back, I’m heading in the same direction anyway.”

 

“R-really? Y-you don’t need to actually but…”

 

“Oh it’s fine I’m just heading to my lab, gotta work on that FYP you see,” Chanyeol replied easily, flashing another smile towards Baekhyun.

 

Baekhyun felt his insides warm up despite the cold but forced himself to give a somewhat normal reply.

 

“At this time? Man, you must be really hardworking.”

 

“Can’t help it, you gotta work for what you want,” the taller grinned.

 

They walked in silence for a while, passing by the shutters of neighbourhood shops which had closed for the day, the occasional passer-by bracing himself against the cold while rushing to his unknown destination, the rows of streetlamps which flickered every now and then.

 

The night air was chilly, but somehow Baekhyun didn’t feel cold at all. Rather, his body was positively burning up. He couldn’t believe that he had succeeded in going for dinner with Chanyeol and the taller was even walking him back to his dorm.

 

His heart was full yet light at the same time, and a thrill was coursing through his veins. He was glad that they had managed to hit it off pretty well, and for the first time in his life, he found himself genuinely wanting to get to know the other better, befriend him, and, if he was being perfectly honest, become a little more than friends.

 

“Um, you can stop here. My dorm’s right ahead.”

 

They stopped in front of the gates to the university dorms. Usually there would’ve been a security guard standing at his post, looking over any suspicious figures, but it was late and the post had long been abandoned.

 

Despite being located within the university grounds, the dorm was a distance away from the lecture buildings, cordoned off by lush greenery at both sides. A fountain stood to the left of the entrance, its glimmering waters rippling and reflecting the night sky, a lone crow resting on the top of the stone statue of what Baekhyun guessed was some pioneer of the university.

 

“T-thank you for today. Um, I really enjoyed myself,” Baekhyun said, a tentative smile on his face.

 

There was a pregnant pause for a moment as Baekhyun eagerly awaited Chanyeol’s reply.

 

The crow had flown off to its nest, the air was still and it was only the two of them there, facing each other, much like that time in the supermarket aisle.

 

What seemed like hesitation appeared to flicker across the taller’s face for a second, before it was swiftly replaced with his usual friendly smile.

 

“I really enjoyed today too,” Chanyeol said, his heavy gaze almost boring into Baekhyun’s eyes.

 

Despite that having been a clear signal that the date was over, both did not move, each desperately wanting to prolong the moment.

 

After a few more moments of simply standing in silence and staring at each other, Chanyeol decided to make a move first.

 

“Good night Baekhyun.”

 

With that, and a last smile in the shorter’s direction, he bade his goodbyes and started walking away.

 

Baekhyun watched his retreating figure dumbly, unsure of what to do, before it hit him that they had yet to exchange numbers.

 

“Wait!” Baekhyun called out, rushing towards Chanyeol.

 

“Baekhyun?” Chanyeol asked quizzically, as he paused in his steps and turned around.

 

“U-um, I thought, I thought maybe we could exchange numbers,” Baekhyun said shyly, twiddling his thumbs as he shuffled his feet.

 

A hint of amusement flickered across Chanyeol’s face before he broke out into a smile.

 

“Of course.” He took out his phone and pressed it to Baekhyun’s.

 

“There, I believe we have each other’s numbers now. See you around Baekhyun,” Chanyeol smiled again, and walked away, leaving a rapidly blushing brunette in his wake.

 

 

 

 

The moment he had reached the privacy of his dorm room, Baekhyun had immediately sprang into a victory dance, or more like, jumped up and down and shouted at the top of his lungs until his neighbour knocked on his ceiling again to complain.

 

He couldn’t believe that for once, his impulsive ass hadn’t landed himself in a shitty situation but rather something that was quite desirable and he took a few seconds to thank himself for all the impulsive decisions he seemed to make around the supermarket employee.

 

Speaking of impulsive decisions, his latest decision had gotten him Chanyeol’s number. Just the thought alone made him smile like an idiot again. He quickly fished out his phone and typed away.

 

**To: Chanyeol <3**

23:15

_Hi, this is Baekhyun_ _😊_

 

The reply came almost instantly, lighting up the screen of his phone less than 5s later.

 

23:15

_Hey, this is Chanyeol._

_Thanks for the dinner, I really enjoyed it_ _😊_

Baekhyun smiled to himself, his thumbs pausing over the screen as he thought of a reply.

 

23:16

_I’m glad you liked it_ _😊_

_How’s your FYP going?_

 

This time, the reply took a little over a minute.

 

23:18

_Oh, speaking of that I should probably get back to work soon._

_It hasn’t been going well you see_ _☹_

 

Oh. That’s right, Chanyeol was busy. He probably shouldn’t bother him too much.

 

23:19

_Oh… That’s too bad._

_I probably won’t be of much help but let me_

_know if there’s anything I can do!_

After thinking for a while, Baekhyun decided to send another text.

23:20

_Good night Chanyeol_ _😊_

 

With that, Baekhyun placed his phone aside, and got ready for bed, a smile on his face as he switched off the lights.

 

 

 

 

Chanyeol chuckled as he walked to his personal laboratory and tapped his card on the scanner, unlocking the room, while glancing at Baekhyun’s messages.

 

_How cute. He wants to help me, huh?_

Chanyeol shut the door behind him, waiting for the automatic disinfectant spray to start up. After he was thoroughly disinfected, Chanyeol opened the second door in front of him and stepped into his laboratory. He hung up his coat at the entrance and put on a white lab coat instead.

 

The laboratory was almost entirely white, with white walls, a large white door at the far end, white tables, white chairs, white cabinets and a white-tiled floor. The tables were filled with varying types of microscopes, metallic instruments, logbooks and clear bottles containing unknown chemicals. A large sink occupied the right end of the room.

 

Chanyeol strode to the white door and flung it open. A blast of cold air greeted him but the taller was unfazed. Pulling on plastic gloves, he walked in briskly and scanned the tall, metal shelves, filled with neatly labelled plastic containers. He selected a container on the nearest shelf and examined it. The label on top read CT-1. He put it back and moved to another shelf at the back, picking up another container labelled BT-4 instead. He then stepped out of the room and shut the door securely behind him.

 

Once back in the laboratory, Chanyeol took out a clean petri dish from one of the drawers. He then placed the contents of the container in it and filled it up with water from the sink.

 

When all that was done. Chanyeol sat back in his swivel chair and took out his phone, quickly reading the messages from a certain Byun Baekhyun and answering them. It would take a while for the meat to thaw after all.

 

While waiting, his thoughts went back to the date just a few hours ago. He hadn’t been lying when he had told Baekhyun that he had enjoyed himself. He was mildly surprised to find out that they shared multiple similar interests and truth be told, he found the petite male extremely cute and intriguing. It wasn’t everyday that someone just went up to him and asked him out despite they having met a mere three times prior.

 

It was unusual for him to take such a strong interest in someone either. He only believed in interacting with others for function and shied away from the hassle of engaging in what others called ‘deep, meaningful relationships’. He had never understood the appeal of having to pretend to be interested in and worse, care about another stranger 24/7. He paused for a moment there. It was not as if he cared about the small brunette, neither did he feel inclined to start a proper relationship with him. He gathered his thoughts and rationalised with himself. He readily admitted that he was physically attracted to the smaller man; it was with some difficulty that he had managed to stop himself from devouring those small pink lips earlier when they had said their goodbyes. He also found the way the smaller kept throwing himself at him somewhat endearing and amusing and looked forward to the brunette’s future antics. Chanyeol decided that he merely viewed Baekhyun as a _very attractive_ , interesting subject.

 

Chanyeol strode to the table where the petri dish was placed on and prodded its contents, feeling its texture in his gloved hands. Unlike the cold slab of pink marble it was previously, the meat was now soft and malleable, easily curving to fit the contours of his palm. It was ripe for the picking.

 

He then spread several layers of cling wrap on the table, testing that it was nice and sturdy before taping the edges down with duct tape. Next, he placed the meat on the cling wrap, the bright lights above illuminating the smooth, pink surface from all angles.

 

Chanyeol surveyed the tray of metallic instruments of varying shapes and sizes on the table, before deciding on a small scalpel, its sharp tip glinting as it caught the light. He made several small, precise cuts on the meat, cutting the slab of beef into four thin strips. He measured the length of the different strips with a ruler and noted down their measurements.

 

He placed the four strips into four respective boiling tubes and slotted the tubes into a boiling tube rack. He left the first tube empty, and filled the second one with sulfuric acid, the third with sodium hydroxide and the last with hot water.

 

After five seconds, he drained the contents of the boiling tubes and placed them on four separate petri dishes. Handling the meat carefully, he picked up the strip which acted as a control and pulled it firmly, then measuring it and noting down its length. He did the same for the other three strips.

 

As expected, the meat which was immersed in sulfuric acid dissolved almost instantly when it was taken out of the boiling tube. There was not much stretching to be done there. The one in sodium hydroxide yielded a similar result. The meat doused with hot water had turned a shade of pale pink, and stretched decently.

 

Chanyeol cleared the experiment materials quickly and jotted down the results in his thick logbook. Most scientists used computers to record their results nowadays but Chanyeol still preferred the old-fashioned way. He made a mental note to try weaker acids and alkalis for subsequent experiments to prevent the meat from disintegrating and turning his efforts to naught.

 

When all was done, Chanyeol sat back down in his chair and checked his phone. It was already 1am. Baekhyun had sent him a good night text. Being in no mood for friendly conversation, he tossed his phone to the side, deciding to reply the next morning instead. The seconds stretched out and Chanyeol stifled a yawn. Though he had just completed an experiment, truth be told, he was starting to suffocate under the tedium of it.

 

Experimenting with the different kinds of meat he could procure from the supermarket was getting boring. He was tired of chicken. Of beef. Of pork. Of fish. No matter the cut or type of meat, they were all the same, the way they would be frozen solid in the freezer, the way they would slowly melt and curve under room temperature, the way they would remain pliant under his fingers even as he stretched and pulled the meat apart, wondering how long he could stretch it before it broke. He enjoyed how the meat was pliant, almost submissive in his hands, but the lack of resistance was frankly boring. The meat was dead after all, just letting him have his way with it without struggling. It was just too easy.

 

Chanyeol shifted his attention to his logbook. He flipped to a random page and read it quickly, eyes scanning over his messy scrawl.

 

**12/11/18**

 

_Chicken thigh_

_3 days stale: 4.39cm_

_2 days stale: 4.67cm_

_1 day stale: 5.01cm_

_Fresh: 5.58cm_

 

**13/11/18**

 

_Chicken breast_

_3 days stale: 3.12cm_

_2 days stale: 3.18cm_

_1 day stale: 3.79cm_

_Fresh: 4.10cm_

 

He looked through a few more pages. On average, regardless of the type or cut of meat or what chemicals he doused it in, the results were all the same. Unsurprisingly, the fresher the meat, the more malleable, more stretchy it was.

 

Chanyeol closed the book with a snap and placed it back into his drawer carefully. He could experiment with a few more chemicals if he really wanted to, but honestly his heart wasn’t in it.

 

He sat back in his swivel chair and sighed. Through his countless experiments, he had managed to find out which type of meat was the most malleable and how to render it as stretchy as possible. He had found the answer. Yet he didn’t feel fulfilled at all. Rather, he felt empty inside, as if he had spent all those sleepless nights working in his lab for nothing.

 

He had always been fascinated with the concept of malleability. Flexibility. Stretchability. Call it whatever you may, the concept was the same. How far something could go before breaking. He had experimented with many things as a child, tearing apart a piece of paper by accident when testing its strength, ripping his erasers into shreds while trying to discover how far they could stretch, melting plastic with a candle and watching in fascination as the previously hard, impenetrable surface turned soft as butter, its edges melting and softening till it became nothing but a puddle on the floor.

 

When he entered university, he had obtained a part-time job at the supermarket. During those four years, he had compiled a record of the malleability of different types of meat, sneaking home stale pieces for his experiments. After all, the supermarket couldn’t care less if there were one or two missing pieces of stale meat.

 

His fascination with malleability had led him to pursue a biology degree, after he witnessed the wonders one could do with a scalpel when equipped with the knowledge. Chanyeol wasn’t arrogant, but he wasn’t oblivious either, and knew that his professors all adored him, thinking that he was their star student and had a promising future in the field. That was the only reason why he had been granted a personal laboratory, a first for a mere student, in a relatively secluded area of the university. This particular laboratory had been unused for many years, hence dusting drifting everywhere when he first entered but that had been easily taken care of with some good old scrubbing.

 

He hadn’t been completely lying when he said that he had an FYP to attend to, only that said FYP on the reproductive cycle of frogs had long since been completed, the results filed away in a little folder, waiting to be handed in on the deadline. He had invested his efforts into that miserable, child-like project as soon as his topic had been approved, thus finishing it well ahead of the deadline, only so that he could focus on what he was truly interested in.

 

Chanyeol stood up and walked to the freezer again, flinging it open, not even wincing as the rush of cold air hit his face. After taking a cursory glance inside, he shut the door. It was useless. He had experimented so much with these different types of meat that he had procured from the supermarket that he had left no stone unturned, and there were no longer any fresh conclusions to draw from them.

 

Chanyeol was frustrated.

 

He paced around the room aimlessly, white walls turning into a blur as his steps quickened. Meat, meat, what other meat was there that he could lay his hands on? _Meat, meat, meat._

 

His frenzied footsteps paused as an idea came to him. There was that. He hadn’t tried _that_ yet. He had never tried it before, but it was a new realm, a whole new world of possibilities and new discoveries to keep his curiosity sated.

 

Chanyeol smirked, his manic pacing forgotten for a second.

 

He quickly took off his lab coat, changing into a spare set of clothes he always had in his drawer for good measure, and packed a small bag with him, only taking the essentials, before switching off the lights and heading out into the night.

 

 

 

 

Baekhyun woke up to the sound of his phone buzzing. He rubbed his eyes groggily and reached beside him for his phone, swiping up to check his notifications.

 

1 new message.

 

Baekhyun’s eyes widened, brain instantly becoming more alert when he realised just who the message was from.

 

**Fr: Chanyeol <3**

11:01

_Morning Baekhyun~_

_Sorry for not replying your messages yesterday._

_I was working on my FYP till late at night and fell asleep._

 

Baekhyun quickly tapped a reply and hit the send button.

 

11:02

_It’s fine! Hope you managed to get a good rest_ _😊_

_I just woke up actually haha_

11:02

_A late riser huh?_

Baekhyun blushed as the teasing reply came less than a minute later. Before he could reply, his phone pinged with the sound of an incoming message.

 

11:03

_Btw, are you free this Sunday?_

His eyes widened even more (if that was possible) as he read the message, which sounded suspiciously like a precursor to a date… Shaking his head to clear his thoughts, he quickly replied, not wanting to keep the other waiting for long.

11:03

_Yup!_

As soon as he sent that, Baekhyun internally slapped himself. He hadn’t meant to sound so eager. He paused for a while before typing again.

 

11:04

_I mean, I don’t have anything planned._

 

There, that was a bit more normal. He didn’t want to come across as some lovestruck schoolgirl. The reply came almost immediately.

 

11:04

_Great~_

_How about the movies and dinner? My treat_ _😊_

“Ow!”

 

Baekhyun dropped his phone on his face, the device landing squarely on his nose. He simply laid there stupidly, phone still on his face, not even registering the pain on his nose bridge. His heart was hammering against his chest. Did Chanyeol just ask him out on a date? It couldn’t be real right? He must still be dreaming. He pinched himself hard.

 

“Ow!” A second yelp of pain escaped his lips. Yep this was definitely not a dream.

 

He remained sprawled out on his bed for what seemed like forever, brain moving at the speed of a Windows 97 computer before he finally retrieved his phone from his face and stared at the message on the still lit-up screen, reading it over and over again to make sure that he hadn’t misunderstood in any way. He took a few deep breaths to steady himself before his fingers finally fumbled over the keys. He could do this. His normally slim and deft fingers suddenly felt fat and clumsy and he had to retype his message at least four times but after some struggling the deed was finally done. The message was sent.

11:06

_Sure! I’d love to~_

 

The conversation ended with them confirming the timing and location of the date. Baekhyun made sure to note it down in his calendar app, _Sunday 7pm Deadpool with Chanyeol_ , and even set an alarm notification. Today was Tuesday, so he still had around four days to prepare.

 

Baekhyun sat up and strode to his closet. He knew that he hadn’t brought many clothes with him from home but there still a tiny hope that he had had the foresight to pack some presentable clothes. He cursed when he opened the door and saw the meagre selection of clothes in his tiny wardrobe. Since he stayed on campus and rarely went out, he hadn’t bothered to bring many clothes and most of his fancier  clothes were in his home a good five hours away. He certainly didn’t want to travel all the way there just to get some clothes. It would be faster and much more efficient to just buy some new ones. It seemed that a shopping trip was in order.

 

Baekhyun turned to his phone again, scrolling through his contacts before he finally found the name he was looking for.

 

After a while, the person on the other end of the line picked up.

 

“Dude you’re alive?” the obnoxious high-pitched voice of his high school friend pierced the receiver.

 

“I thought you were dead. Man, you haven’t contacted me in years.”

 

“Sorry about that. I was just caught up with school. Anyway, wanna go shopping?”

 

“Woah what’s with this all of a sudden? Got someone you need to impress?” Baekhyun could almost picture the knowing smirk on his friend’s face.

 

“Fine… I need new clothes for a date,” he admitted, knowing that the inquisitive Jongdae would just keep bugging him if he didn’t answer.

 

“I really need your help with this. Aren’t you the most fashionable person I know?” Baekhyun added, shamelessly blowing Jongdae’s trumpet.

 

“Well if you say that… Guess I’ll help you for once.” The voice at the other end of the line sounded like it was doing a poor job of trying to hide how smug the speaker felt.

 

Baekhyun smirked to himself. The deal was sealed.

 

“But I’m gonna need a couple drinks outta this,” the voice added.

 

Baekhyun groaned internally. Trust that party animal to make unreasonable demands of him.

 

“Fine, fine, but only after the shopping’s done,” Baekhyun replied begrudgingly.

 

“Wonderful.”

 

Baekhyun ended the call, not even bothering to say bye. Knowing Jongdae, if he hadn’t changed, he would probably drag him to some club and try to hook up some unsuspecting soul. Baekhyun really wasn’t a clubbing person, but for the sake of his date, he would endure this. The idiot was busy with god knows what for the next two days so they had arranged to meet on Friday instead.

 

Putting his phone away, Baekhyun smiled to himself excitedly. He couldn’t wait for Sunday.

 

The next two days passed uneventfully. Baekhyun passed by the supermarket every now and then to chat with Chanyeol for a bit and they exchanged text messages daily. They hadn’t been able to go out since that time Baekhyun asked him out as the latter was busy with his FYP but Baekhyun was still happy at the prospect of going out on Sunday.

 

Soon, it was Friday, the day of Baekhyun’s planned shopping trip with Jongdae. They had arranged to get some clothes for Baekhyun before going to one of Jongdae’s favourite clubs, The Red Pepper. Baekhyun pondered what to wear. He didn’t care much for clubs but he didn’t want to stick out like a sore thumb either. He eventually decided on his worn but trustworthy ripped skinny black jeans, a loose black V-neck sweater that revealed his nicely-shaped collarbones and a leather motor jacket to guard against the cold. His feet were clad in his usual studded black boots and off he went, but after styling his messy mop of hair such that it framed his face nicely and after a second’s hesitation, he dug out his eyeliner pencil and lined his eyes slightly. He wondered if this was overkill but judging from Jongdae’s pictures on social media, this was probably how most people at the club dressed so Baekhyun simply stepped out and headed to the mall.

 

 

 

 

“Hey not bad. I didn’t know you had it in you.” Jongdae said appraisingly, giving him a once-over.

 

Baekhyun simply rolled his eyes.

 

“I was just trying to fit into whatever place you drag me to later.”

 

“Smart choice,” Jongdae guffawed as he started walking into a nearby shop.

 

The blonde-haired man was dressed in all black as well, but with a leopard-print cardigan breaking up the monotony. _Flashy as usual_ , thought Baekhyun, but he didn’t comment and simply strode into the shop after Jongdae.

 

“So, tell me about this guy, your date,” he winked.

 

“What’s he like? What does he like?” Jongdae questioned incessantly.

 

“Well, he’s friendly, and kind, and always smiling, and really considerate, and…”

 

“Okok I get the idea. You can stop gushing about him now. Seriously, this is the first time I’ve seen you so happy since Jihoon asked you out back in high school.”

 

Baekhyun blushed and shot a glare at his friend.

 

“So, yall fucked already?” Jongdae continued casually, as if he had been asking about the weather.

 

“W-what?” Baekhyun nearly choked on his saliva.

 

“Of course not! We’ve only been on one date,” he answered hurriedly.

 

“Ah really? But still, no sex on the first date?” Jongdae had the nerve to add.

 

The blonde man burst into laughter at Baekhyun’s glare.

 

“Chill, I was just joking. But from what you say he seems like the kind of nice, neighbourhood-friendly, _church oppa_ kind of guy. Didn’t know that was your type. Never found those types interesting to be honest.”

 

“Shut up. Aren’t you here to help me?” Baekhyun glared further.

 

“Ok, whatever floats your boat whatever rocks your dick,” Jongdae sniggered before finally turning his attention to the clothes on the racks.

 

Baekhyun wouldn’t admit it, but Jongdae’s words had placed several rather… Vivid images in his head. The memories of the wet dream he had resurfaced again despite his efforts to lock them away in the deepest part of his brain. He was certainly interested in Chanyeol, but he had always restricted his thoughts, and blood, from flowing down a certain direction, at least when he was conscious. They hadn’t even held hands yet! But Jongdae’s words seemed to have opened a tightly stoppered dam within him, and he couldn’t stop thinking about the taller man and what he would do to him...

 

Baekhyun shuddered. He had to snap out of this. Otherwise he would never be able to act normally in front of Chanyeol. He hurried over to Jongdae, who was carrying a mountain of clothes which he promptly dumped into Baekhyun’s arms as soon as he saw the brunette approaching.

 

“Try these on,” Jongdae encouraged, practically pushing him into the nearest dressing room before Baekhyun even had a chance to protest. Once inside the cramped space, Baekhyun examined the assortment of clothes that his blonde-haired friend had picked out for him. He raised his eyebrows. The clothes ranged from a flashy sequinned shirt to a garish rainbow sweater to a fishnet shirt to a basic cream-coloured dress shirt. As fashionable as Jongdae was, his taste was sometimes a tad too eclectic, or ‘high fashion’, as the other liked to call it, for Baekhyun’s taste. Regardless, he tried on the clothes one by one, stepping out of the room after trying on each piece to receive Jongdae’s comments.

 

He tried on the sequinned shirt first. His first thoughts were that it made him look like a walking disco ball and he was definitely not going to get this no matter how much Jongdae told him that he looked like a Hollywood celebrity. Did celebrities really wear these things?

 

The oversized rainbow sweater was another no-no. Thick, horizontal stripes decorated in the colours of the rainbow ran across the fabric and the sweater was so huge that his hands were covered and it came down to his knees. Looking at himself in the mirror, he felt that he looked more like an elementary school student ready to go on a school trip than a college student going for a date. Ignoring Jongdae’s comments about rainbow colours and oversized clothes being the latest trend, he changed out of the sweater and put on the next seeming fashion disaster. He was really starting to regret even asking Jongdae for advice.

 

When he stepped out of the changing room this time, he couldn’t help but cover his chest with his arms self-consciously. The next item of clothing that Jongdae had decided to put him in could barely even be called clothing. He swore there were more holes than fabric in this shirt. The cold air hit his exposed skin and he shuddered.

 

“Damn… You look hot!” Jongdae winked.

 

“If you want to seduce him, this shirt is the way to go,” he added, guffawing loudly.

 

“Kim. Jong. Dae. There is no way I’m wearing this,” the words came out through gritted teeth.

 

“You can still keep it for the bedroom,” his friend teased.

 

“Kim Jongdae!”

 

With a huff, Baekhyun turned around and went back into the dressing room. There was no way in hell he was wearing this poor imitation of a shirt for his first date with Chanyeol. His nipples were exposed goddamnit! There was no way he would be able to get out of the house without blushing, not to mention the cold winter air would surely eat him alive. What on earth was Jongdae thinking…

 

He changed out for what seemed to be the umpteenth time that day, shrugging on the last item on the hook – the cream-coloured dress shirt. Now, this was more like it. He admired himself in the full-length mirror, turning slightly to check all the angles. He smiled. This was perfect. Ignoring Jongdae’s whines of “boring”, he proceeded to the cashier and made his purchase.

 

They then walked around to a few other shops to complete Baekhyun’s outfit. Eventually, they settled on a, in Jongdae’s words, “innocent but coy” outfit. Jongdae had convinced him to get the ridiculously tight light-washed ripped jeans; he did have to agree that damn it made his ass look good. The date outfit was completed with a soft baby blue round-necked sweater which complemented the cream shirt.

 

With the shopping finally done, Jongdae called it a day and proceeded to drag him towards The Red Pepper. It was not the best idea to go clubbing with his hands full of shopping bags but Baekhyun had no choice, as his friend practically shoved him towards the club.

 

 

 

 

The club was packed to the brim and Baekhyun instantly regretted his decision the moment he stepped in. The place was swarming with dancing, gyrating bodies, the air was thick with the stench of sweat, alcohol and sex and the strobed lights were making his head spin.

 

Jongdae abandoned Baekhyun almost instantly, making a beeline towards the dance floor. Baekhyun sighed and settled into one of the stools near the counter. He couldn’t very well dance with all these bags with him and he had no desire to do so anyway.

 

Baekhyun absentmindedly ordered a mojito and started sipping on it as he observed the crowd from his vantage point. Somewhere along his line of sight, he saw what seemed to be a blonde-haired blob dry humping a man with spiky, tousled hair and tight leather pants. Baekhyun shook his head with a sigh, useful as he may be at times, Jongdae was still a hopeless idiot.

 

He had never understood why people would go to clubs. It was much too noisy, too crowded for comfort. He greatly preferred the quiet solitude of his dorm room.

 

He downed a few more drinks while watching the crowd, having nothing better to do. He pulled out his phone, intending to check the time. Two hours had passed since they had first reached the club and it was already half past one. He took another sip of his drink, stifling a yawn. He was getting bored and wanted nothing more but to delve under the comfort of his blankets but Jongdae was still nowhere to be found. He was just about to text Jongdae and ask his whereabouts when an unfamiliar voice whispered somewhere close to his ear.

 

“Hey cutie, feeling lonely?” The unwelcome voice drawled.

 

Urgh, of all times to get hit on by some random stranger. Whoever the guy was, he was standing way too close for comfort and his breath reeked of alcohol.

 

Not even bothering to turn his head, he simply muttered “no thanks” under his breath.

 

“Why so uptight? You need a few drinks to loosen you up.” The stranger’s voice dipped lower, the lewd connotation not lost on the brunette.

 

He sighed internally. This was why he disliked clubs. Jongdae was nowhere to be found but Baekhyun really didn’t feel like staying there any longer. The stench and unpleasant atmosphere was getting to him and he had no desire to deal with the unwanted advances of a drunken stranger.

 

With a quick “excuse me” Baekhyun swiftly gathered his bags and slipped away from the stranger, swiftly weaving his way out of the mass of bodies towards the exit, ignoring the string of profanity-laced insults the stranger was throwing at him.

 

Baekhyun let out a breath he didn’t realise he had been holding when he finally got out of the confines of the club. He was back in the street, the cold air hitting his lungs and refreshing him. He felt a slight twinge of guilt at leaving his friend behind but Jongdae had probably been in so many situations like that that it was impossible to count on two fingers and Baekhyun didn’t really feel that guilty after all when it was Jongdae who had dragged him to the club in the first place.

 

At least now he had nice clothes for his date with Chanyeol. Baekhyun smiled to himself.

 

The night air was chilly and the streets had long since been deserted. He recalled that it was already past one. The trains were no longer running which meant that he would have to call a cab. But he had to get onto the main street first.

 

Main street. Main street. Where was he again? Baekhyun spun around, taking in his surroundings. While deep in thought he had been unconsciously walking around aimlessly, wandering the dark alleys which the bar was nested in.

 

And now he was lost. Baekhyun’s sense of direction had never been the best, and he kind of regretted having followed Jongdae blindly on the way here without taking better note of his surroundings. He regretted having downed so many drinks at the bar too. His vision was slightly blurry and a headache was beginning to form. He forced his bleary eyes open and whipped out his phone, intending to turn on his GPS.

 

He followed the directions of the GPS as best as he could. He made a left, then a right, then a left again. Goddamnit why was this path so confusing. When he passed by the same street sign for the third time, his suspicion that the GPS wasn’t working properly grew stronger. As he was about to turn a corner again, hoping that he would finally get onto the right path, he saw a familiar figure in the corner of his eye.

 

He blinked and rubbed his eyes. The figure was gone. The tall figure had looked suspiciously like Chanyeol, and he was pretty sure that he caught a glimpse of the round-rimmed glasses that the man always wore.

 

Perhaps it was the alcohol, but his curiosity won out over the sensible part of his brain which was quickly retreating into a corner and he found himself following the figure. The figure, if it was really Chanyeol, had turned into an alley to his right. If it was really Chanyeol after all, maybe they would get to go home together, maybe the dark-haired man would even give him a kiss. Baekhyun giggled at the thought. The alcohol was really getting to him.

 

The effect of the alcohol was getting stronger by the minute and Baekhyun found it harder and harder to maintain control over his limbs. He staggered along the unlit path, hands clutching at the walls for support.

 

As he was walking, he slipped on a puddle that he hadn’t noticed and ended up tumbling headfirst into the alley which Chanyeol had disappeared into.

 

He groaned in pain, clutching his knee. Of course he had to scrape it on the spot which his ripped jeans didn’t cover. The sharp pain cleared the fog in his brain and he discerned that he was lying on the dirty ground of the alley. Chanyeol was nowhere to be found. It must’ve been his imagination after all.

 

As he rolled onto his side, intending to get up, he came face-to-face with a pair of unblinking eyes.

 

Terror rose within him as his eyes widened. He immediately scrambled to his feet, looking around wildly. As he took in his surroundings, he realised, with a sinking feeling in his stomach, that the pair of eyes he belonged to a woman. A woman with long dark hair spread out messily all over the dirty ground. A woman who was sprawled out like a doll, her lifeforce steadily seeping into the concrete.

 

Panic took over him, willing his wooden legs to move and _run._ The only thought running through his head was that he had to _get out of there now_.

 

He was close to the entrance of the alley, he could see the dim orange light flickering from an old street lamp nearby, the exit was just a few steps away…

 

When all of a sudden an imposing figure stood in his way, blocking the light.

 

Baekhyun came to an abrupt halt, the soles of his boots grinding against the concrete.

 

The figure stepped out of the shadows.

 

“C-Chanyeol?”

 

The figure didn’t respond but simply continued walking towards Baekhyun. Baekhyun stood rooted to the spot, a million thoughts racing through his mind. This person was unmistakeably Chanyeol. He had the same messy tousled hair and round-rimmed glasses. But at the same time he looked vastly different from the friendly supermarket employee Baekhyun knew. This Chanyeol, who was now standing right in front of him, had a hard look in those dark eyes, and the warm smile which usually adorned his face was nowhere to be found.

 

A sudden glint of light caught Baekhyun’s attention. As his gaze travelled towards the light, he realised that it was emanating from a sharp object which was clasped tightly in Chanyeol’s right hand. A _knife_. The surface of the knife was stained crimson, a couple of drops defiling the soiled ground.

 

His breath hitched. Panic-stricken and tipsy as he may be, he could still put two and two together. The woman lying motionless in the alley, the tainted knife that Chanyeol was holding… It couldn’t be, could it? Chanyeol would never do such a thing. It had to be a dream right?

 

Try as he might to convince himself, the situation was too realistic for it to be a mere dream. The pain in his throbbing knee was very much real, as were his ragged breaths and the cold sweat beading on his forehead.

 

“Oh if it isn’t Baekhyun. What are you doing here, so late at night?” Chanyeol asked, his voice cloying and sweet, the same kind smile that he always wore plastered on his face.

 

Except that it was so wrong. The faint splotches of blood staining his hoodie and spectacles were wrong. The blood-stained knife that he held in his right hand was wrong. The way he looked at Baekhyun with that kind smile of his, as if nothing had happened, was wrong.

 

“You didn’t happen to see anything did you?” Chanyeol continued, voice still lilting and sweet.

 

Baekhyun just stood still. He was so overcome with fear that he couldn’t even speak.

 

Chanyeol closed the distance even more, stepping so close that their bodies were touching, and in one swift moment he had grabbed Baekhyun’s wrist with his free hand and slammed him against the wall.

 

An acute sense of pain shot into Baekhyun’s spine. The hand wrapped around his wrist tightened threateningly and he had to bite his lip to stop himself from groaning in pain.

 

He could feel a larger, warm body pressed against his, not unlike that day at the supermarket when he had collided into Chanyeol. His right hand was still held against the wall in a vice grip. His left hand was free but the knife in Chanyeol’s hand was glinting dangerously and it was too close for comfort. If he tried to wrench his hand free, he was sure that he would feel the sharp metal sinking into his flesh, slicing it open like a piece of meat.

 

Dark eyes bore into dark brown ones as Chanyeol held him in place, scrutinising his face. They were so close that he could feel the taller’s hot breath on his cheek and he instinctively suppressed a shudder.

 

Chanyeol moved even closer, such that his lips were right beside Baekhyun’s ear.

 

“Did you see anything, Baekhyun?” His name lingered in the air as Chanyeol all but purred into his ear.

 

The deep, velvety voice sent shivers running down his spine. He could feel Chanyeol’s breath on his neck. They were too close, he could feel every inch of the taller’s body, and the proximity was sending a rush of adrenaline through his veins.

 

His mind was whirling. The delusional part of him was praying that this was all a dream, the sensible part of him was screaming at him to run and in the depths of his mind, a somewhat deranged bit was enjoying the thrill, the danger of the situation, the way Chanyeol’s body was pressed up against his.

 

Baekhyun finally found it in himself to move and he shook his head, once, twice, frantically. At some point he had scrunched his eyes shut and he didn’t know if he dared to open them.

 

He felt warm breath ghost over his ear, the side of his neck, his exposed collarbone, and unconsciously bit his lip, waiting, waiting for something to happen.

 

The air was thick with suspense. Baekhyun’s nerves were as taut as a wire. Until all of a sudden, he felt a cool blade at his neck, the sharp edge slightly pressing into his skin, drawing blood.

 

His eyes flew open, renewed fear pumping through him.

 

He was scared as hell, he couldn’t deny that, but at the same time there was something else pulsing through him, he didn’t know what exactly, but that something prevented him from just turning tail and running.

 

That something led him to focus on how cool the blade felt against his heated skin, how he was akin to a cornered animal, back against the wall, knife against his jugular, with no way of escape, how Chanyeol’s dark eyes were staring directly into his own frightened ones, taking in the sight of him, almost as if they were gobbling him up greedily.

 

The pressure on the knife increased and Baekhyun felt it sink further into his neck. Just a bit more and it would slice his jugular apart, warm blood gushing out and staining the two of them red.

 

Baekhyun let out an involuntary moan and the knife was released, clattering to the floor. His knees shook, unable to support his weight anymore, and he sank to the ground.

 

Above him, Chanyeol smirked, before pocketing his knife and stepping away.

 

 

 

 

Baekhyun didn’t know how long he had sat slumped there, back against the dirty alley. He only knew that by the time he had regained strength in his legs, the sky was already lightening, streaks of pale blue and gold breaking through the solid blacks and blues of the night sky.

 

He had stumbled onto the main street, called a cab and headed straight back to his dorm.

 

Once back, he stripped off his clothes as if in a frenzy, throwing them on the floor haphazardly, before immediately stepping into the shower, letting the running water wash away the eyeliner still on his face, the crusted blood on his neck, the dirt on his body.

 

He stood under the shower for what seemed like ages, mind still in a daze when he finally stepped out.

 

The events of last night. What were they? What had happened? Baekhyun had been dragged to a club by Jongdae, he had stepped out, he had seen someone who looked like Chanyeol, he had seen blood, he had seen a knife, a hooded figure, _Chanyeol_.

 

Chanyeol. Chanyeol had been there. Baekhyun had saw him with a knife in his hand, blood splattered across his face and clothes. He had cornered Baekhyun, pressed a knife against his neck, and, let him go?

 

That made no sense whatsoever. How could Chanyeol, the friendly supermarket employee who was always smiling, be a murderer? It was like telling him that pigs could fly.

 

What made even less sense was how Baekhyun had felt under his gaze. By all means, he should have felt unbridled fear, and that he did feel. But there was something else, something bubbling below the surface, newly awakened, yearning to be let out. That something had rendered him pliant beneath the dark gaze, senses attuned to the sensation of the knife on his body, had made him…

 

_Ding-dong. Ding-dong._

 

It was the doorbell. Who could it be at this hour? It was barely 8 in the morning.

 

Baekhyun quickly put on his clothes and shuffled to the door, looking into the peephole.

 

His breath hitched in his chest. Standing in front of his door was none other than Park Chanyeol.

 

_Shit. Shit. What do I do?_   Baekhyun thought frantically. _Should I just ignore him?_

 

_Beep-beep. Beep-beep._

 

Baekhyun jumped. His phone was buzzing. He scrambled to his discarded jeans on the floor and fished it out of the pocket.

 

His heart nearly stopped when he read the message flashing across the screen.

 

**Fr: Chanyeol <3**

08:00

_Morning Baekhyun~_

_I know you’re inside, how about letting me in?_ _😊_

 

Baekhyun was at a loss for what to do. Should he call the police and tell them that there was a potential murderer standing in front of his door? But he had no evidence. Should he just open the door? Chanyeol hadn’t killed him yesterday, for whatever inexplicable reason. Maybe he didn’t mean to kill him?

 

The ringing of the doorbell eventually grew more intense as Baekhyun hesitated.

 

He eventually stepped gingerly to the door, scrunching up his face and steeling himself before opening the door.

 

_Here goes nothing_.

 

“M-morning Chanyeol,” Baekhyun tried. He meant to come across as confident and reassured but his voice came out smaller than he had intended.

 

“Morning Baekhyun,” Chanyeol greeted, as if nothing had happened.

 

The taller swiftly stepped over the threshold and closed the door.  A _click_ sound a split second later told Baekhyun that Chanyeol had turned the knob, effectively locking the door.

 

Baekhyun remained where he was, watching the latter’s movements carefully.

 

“Come on, what are you doing standing there? I brought breakfast.” Chanyeol held up the paper bag he was holding.

 

Baekhyun carefully made his way to the table in front of the couch, which Chanyeol was currently sitting on. The taller patted the seat next to him, and Baekhyun gingerly sat down, careful to keep some distance between them.

 

“I’m not sure what you like but I made kimbap.” Chanyeol smiled as he took out two rolls o aluminium foil from his paper bag, unwrapping them to reveal pristine kimbap, the surface glistening with oil.

 

“O-oh. Thanks,” Baekhyun uttered, not knowing what else to say.

 

His brain was still in turmoil and here was Chanyeol, acting all normal.

 

“Are you still asleep? You keep zoning out.”

 

“Here, have some kimbap. Open your mouth,” Chanyeol smiled and took a piece of kimbap with the wooden chopsticks, bringing it close to Baekhyun’s mouth.

 

Unsure what to do and feeling slightly afraid of the taller, Baekhyun kept his mouth closed.

 

“Come on, I made these just for you,” the taller coaxed.

 

Baekhyun’s lips remained pursed shut. Accepting food from a murderer felt wrong. Chanyeol acting like yesterday night hadn’t happened at all felt _wrong_.

 

“Open your mouth.”

 

This time, the dulcet tones were gone, the words spit out harshly like a command. The kimbap was so close that it was literally pressing against Baekhyun’s mouth, the oil on its surface spreading over his lips. Chanyeol’s voice was laced with thinly veiled menace and Baekhyun couldn’t help but do as instructed out of sheer fear.

 

“That’s more like it.” Chanyeol smirked as he observed the smaller boy opening his mouth slowly but obediently, eventually taking in the piece of kimbap and chewing on it.

 

Without even waiting for the boy to swallow, Chanyeol took another piece and shoved it roughly into Baekhyun’s full mouth.

 

He took a third piece, then a fourth, progressively stuffing them into Baekhyun’s mouth until the boy’s cheeks were puffy and his eyes were watering.

 

“C-Chan…” Baekhyun sputtered, bits of rice spewing from his lips. He had to say something, he had to make Chanyeol stop. Otherwise, at this rate, he was going to choke to death.

 

“I-I c-can’t…” Swallow anymore was what he wanted to say but his mouth was so full that he could barely speak.

 

“You can’t?”

 

“Why I’m sure you can, baby.”

 

The taller smirked and pushed him down onto the couch, straddling his hips. His large hands ghosted up his thin T-shirt, eventually landing on the soft curves of his neck.

 

Baekhyun could only watch as Chanyeol’s face broke out into a smile, an unfamiliar one that looked more like a manic grin, as large hands grabbed his neck none too gently and steadily applied pressure.

 

Baekhyun tried to struggle, he grabbed at the large hands holding his windpipe hostage, he tried to move his legs but they were pinned by the weight on top of him. It was fruitless.

 

With his mouth filled with kimbap and his windpipe slowly getting crushed under the pressure, he gradually lost strength in his limbs, his arms falling to the side uselessly as his surroundings blurred into a swirling mess, until all he could see was black. He would have surrendered his consciousness to the darkness save for a jolt of that same something which he had felt just a few hours ago when Chanyeol had his back pressed to the wall.

 

He could feel something, something delightful, something addictive, coursing through his veins, making him feel alive, making him see sparks behind his eyes despite how close he was to death. But the sensation was so pleasurable, so thrilling, it made him reach out blindly, wanting more, wanting something, to ease the burn in his chest, the fire in his veins…

 

And all of a sudden, the vivid sensations stopped. Baekhyun opened his eyes, his head slightly spinning from the lack of oxygen. He blinked a few times as his surroundings slowly came back into focus. He was still in his room, lying on his couch, with kimbap in his mouth, with Chanyeol on top of him…

 

Chanyeol.

 

Baekhyun looked up. And his eyes met that same dark, hungry gaze which had bored into him yesterday night.

 

Baekhyun hadn’t realised it, but he had spewed bits of rice all over his chin and clothes during his choking fit and drool was trickling down the side of his mouth. He looked like an utter mess, yet to the man staring down at him, he was absolutely beautiful.

 

Chanyeol finally released his weight on Baekhyun’s body and shifted to the side of the couch.

 

“Baekhyun, you have rice all over your chin,” he pointed out.

 

The other man was acting as if nothing had happened once again, his face an impassive smiling mask as he took a few pieces of tissue paper and wiped away the rice and drool around Baekhyun’s mouth and chin gently, as if he hadn’t been the cause of the mess.

 

Baekhyun stiffened, absolutely confused at the man’s actions. He had tried to slit his neck, he had just tried to choke him to death, yet now he was acting as if nothing had happened at all.

 

Baekhyun was at a loss for what to do. His own feelings were simply aggravating the mess in his head. He had been in two near-death situations in the span of a few hours, thanks to the very person sitting on his couch, yet while he had felt fear, he had also experienced an unusual sensation which was gradually becoming more familiar to him. At the same time, his mind refused to acknowledge that strange yet familiar sensation, forcibly pushing it beneath the layers of his consciousness, ignoring the fact that it was bubbling under the surface, tightly reined in and controlled by the logical part of Baekhyun’s brain.

 

“I hope you enjoyed the meal, Baekhyun. And don’t forget our date tomorrow.” Chanyeol chose this moment to speak.

 

“D-date?” Baekhyun felt incredulous. He was pretty sure this man had just tried to strangle him to death, and here he was, reminding him of their date?

 

“A-are you serious?” Baekhyun stood up all of a sudden, the movement so violent that he bumped his knee against the table but he was too agitated to care about the pain slowly spreading through his left leg.

 

“I saw you murder someone yesterday. You just tried to choke me. And here you are asking me to go on a date with you like it’s the most normal thing on earth to do!” The words came out of him in a burst, his glare accusing as he stared at Chanyeol.

 

One moment, Chanyeol’s face was blank and impassive. The next, it seemed to transform completely, his eyes hardening, his lips tilting up into a leer, uncannily similar to the expression he had wore while choking Baekhyun.

 

“Baekhyun,” The taller drew out his name, as if savouring the syllables on his tongue.

 

“If my memory did not fail me, I believe you mentioned that you had not seen anything yesterday night,” Chanyeol continued calmly.

 

Baekhyun gulped. Shit. In his outburst, he had let slip the fact that he had in fact, _seen something_ yesterday night, contrary to what he had told the supermarket employee, no, the _murderer_.

 

Baekhyun took a step back.

 

Chanyeol stood up as well, advancing towards Baekhyun, inch by inch, as he spoke.

 

“Let me ask you again. Did you see something last night?”

 

Baekhyun didn’t respond. He was too terrified to answer. The only thing he could do was back away steadily as Chanyeol prowled towards him, like a predator cornering its prey.

 

He felt the same fear and trepidation that he had experienced when he was lying on his couch, gasping for air, when his back was slammed against the wall, with a knife pressed to his neck. He felt the same strange sensation he had yet to acknowledge making his nerves tingle and his blood rush through his body.

 

His back was up against the wall again, his legs useless and trembling. The door was locked, the wall was behind him and Chanyeol was right in front of him. Once again, there was no room for escape.

 

Chanyeol stepped even closer, until the soft fabric of their clothes was the only thing separating their bodies.

 

Without warning, Chanyeol grabbed his right wrist and slammed it against the wall beside his head, as his foot forcibly spread Baekhyun’s legs apart and his knee rammed into Baekhyun’s cock, drawing an involuntary moan out of the brunette.

 

“Admit it already, you like this, don’t you?” Chanyeol’s voice echoed in his ear, gravelly and dangerous.

 

“W-what?” Baekhyun stuttered. Of all things, he hadn’t been expecting this. How could he possibly be turned on in such a situation when he was in danger of being killed by this murderer in front of him?

 

Chanyeol ignored Baekhyun and continued speaking, his voice low and raspy, a knowing glint in his eyes.

 

“I know very well that you saw me kill that woman yesterday. And I also know,” the hand on his wrist tightened, “that you get turned on by danger like the little bitch you are.” His knee dug harder into Baekhyun’s balls, forcefully kneading them now, eliciting another soft moan from the brunette.

 

“Look at how hard you are. You were hard yesterday and when I choked you, and you’re still denying it?”

 

At that moment, it all clicked. It was as if the veil over his brain had been lifted, the fence keeping out the irrational part of his brain torn down. That strange sensation he felt, which always arose alongside his fear, which had sent adrenaline coursing through his veins, which had sent blood rushing southwards, was _arousal_. The logical part of him had simply shut out and ignored the explanation thrust in its face, refusing to believe that such a thing could be possible.

 

Cognitive dissonance. When your mind rejects something that is contrary to your beliefs. He had learnt about this in one of the psychology classes he had taken on a whim. He had always believed that he was a normal college student, and the shocking discovery that he had a kink for danger went against that belief so strongly that his brain had simply shut out the aberrant information.

 

He felt a large hand slide up his shirt, roaming around the soft expanse of skin, tracing the contours of his stomach, dipping lower, lower, until it disappeared beneath his sweatpants, ghosting over his dick.

 

Baekhyun whimpered at the contact.

 

“W-what are you doing? S-stop…” He tried to say but his voice wouldn’t come out right, not when there was a hand slowly stroking up and down his length, thumb teasing the tip. His eyes were glazing over and he could feel himself steadily losing control over his inhibitions.

 

Suddenly, the electrifying sensations disappeared, and his head was abruptly pushed down. The force caused him to land on his knees with a loud thud.

 

Grimacing from the pain, he looked up to see Chanyeol fish a small but deadly pocket knife out of his pocket. While the sight of the knife had him freezing in terror like a normal person, his traitorous dick stiffened even more, leaving him with a prominent bulge in his pants.

 

“Lift up your shirt,” Chanyeol commanded. The taller towered over Baekhyun, crossing his arms as he twirled the knife in his right hand lazily.

 

Baekhyun wasn’t about to give in just like this. As terrified as he was, there was no way in hell he was going to obediently listen to the words of a _murderer_.

 

He glared at Chanyeol as fiercely as he could, which honestly wasn’t much considering how his blood had turned to ice. To the taller, he simply looked like a cornered animal. Chanyeol admired the way the brunette still tried to resist, even though he must’ve known that it was futile. He liked it better this way. It was always more fun to watch someone struggle with all their might, only to trample on them and break them completely. This was the main reason why Chanyeol was so intrigued with Baekhyun and even let him go even after the smaller had clearly caught him procuring subjects for his project. Unlike all his other experimental material, Baekhyun didn’t just cower in fear in the face of danger and grovel at his feet, begging for his life to be spared. It was honestly disgusting, the way seemingly polished men and women would turn into a sobbing mess when they found themselves at death’s door. Chanyeol never felt an ounce of pity for those subjects. It was infuriating even. They took the fun out of the hunt. They broke by themselves before he even laid a hand on them.

 

But Baekhyun was different. Baekhyun had been scared, that was certain, but his body couldn’t betray him. The way he had trembled under his hard gaze, the way lust had clouded his vision as Chanyeol had closed in to his neck, the unmistakeable bulge in his skinny jeans; the signs were blatantly obvious. Chanyeol licked his lips slowly as he recounted the wanton expression on the smaller’s face just a few hours ago. He couldn’t wait to see him make that expression again, couldn’t wait to keep playing with his new extremely interesting toy.

 

Chanyeol met Baekhyun’s pitiful attempt at a glare with a level gaze of his own. He grabbed Baekhyun’s hair harshly, forcing the brunette to look up at him. Baekhyun bit his lip, willing himself to stay silent. He wouldn’t, couldn’t, give in that easily.

 

Chanyeol crouched down and slowly dragged the smooth blade across his cheeks. Baekhyun bit his lip even harder, to the point that he tasted blood.

 

“You’ll do as I say, unless you want to die,” Chanyeol whispered in Baekhyun’s ear, his voice low and laced with an edge.

 

After a moment’s hesitation, Baekhyun reluctantly lifted up the hem of his shirt, only stopping when Chanyeol beckoned him to, until it exposed the milky expanse of his chest and his pert nipples.

 

“Bite it,” Chanyeol commanded, and Baekhyun placed the fabric of his shirt in his mouth, though not before throwing Chanyeol another glare.

 

“Good boy,” Chanyeol smiled, a ghost of the warm smile that Baekhyun had fallen in love with.

 

“Now take out your dick and jerk yourself off.”

 

Baekhyun’s eyes widened in shock. He started to protest, muffled sounds coming from his mouth but a cool blade pressed flat against his left nipple made him freeze, as blood rushed to his cock.

 

With trembling hands, he slowly undid the drawstring of his sweatpants and took out his dick. It had already swelled to its full length, the tip leaking with precome.

 

“Look at you,” Chanyeol smirked as he dangled the knife in front of Baekhyun’s quivering dick, the flat side of the blade pressing against the underside, drawing a shudder and a soft moan from the smaller.

 

The blade trailed upwards once more and Baekhyun hastily placed his hands over his cock. The pressure was too much. He couldn’t take it anymore. The feeling of danger and the blade travelling over his heated flesh, the way he could feel its hard edges was driving him crazy. He started pumping with short erratic strokes, eyes closed, mouth slightly apart, as he strained to feel all the sensations possible. He could feel himself getting close, the blade dancing across his nipples and Chanyeol’s hot breath on his neck nearly driving him over the edge, when a sudden sharp pain near his hipbone sent all his senses into overdrive, tipping him over the edge, and he was coming, semen spewing out in thick white spurts, covering his stomach and fingers, a few stray drops landing on his floor.

 

The blade on his body was gone.

 

Chanyeol smiled and ruffled his head.

 

“There’s a good boy.”

 

With that, he left the room, leaving Baekhyun kneeling in the middle of his room, covered in his own come and despair.

 

 

 

 

Baekhyun knelt in the middle of his room for what seemed like ages, simply staring at his defiled hands emptily. A voice in his head told him to just give up and stop resisting, to give in to his inner desires, but another stronger, louder voice pushed it away and silenced it, locking it away in a chest and throwing it to the bottom of the sea. Baekhyun didn’t want to admit that Chanyeol was right, he didn’t want to believe that he was capable of such demented desires. He was but an ordinary college student and despite the evidence on his hands showing him otherwise, he stubbornly refused to open his eyes to the truth, afraid of what would happen, what he would do, if he were to allow himself to give in to his desires.

 

Baekhyun was afraid of himself.

 

As a result, he did what any sane person would have done in his stead and chose to deny everything. The first thing he would need to do was wipe his hands clean of the reminder of his sin.

 

Baekhyun got up and washed himself quickly. He then turned to his closet and pulled out a small duffel bag, packing nothing but essentials in it, and stepped out of his room, footsteps purposeful.

 

On second thought, it may have been a better idea to contact Jongdae beforehand instead of just showing up on his front door, but the deed had been done and here he was, standing in front of his friend’s apartment with duffel bag in hand.

 

After a few moments of waiting, the door in front of him swung open and Baekhyun looked up to see his friend’s surprised face.

 

“Baekhyun? What are you doing here?” Jongdae asked, bewildered.

 

“Can I stay here for a while?” Baekhyun asked simply, deigning to provide further explanation.

 

It was then that Jongdae’s gaze travelled down, landing on the small but compact duffel bag clenched in Baekhyun’s hand.

 

“Just come in first,” Jongdae wisely chose not to pursue the matter any further.

 

Once Baekhyun was inside Jongdae’s cluttered but cosy apartment, he made his way to the couch and plopped himself down.

 

Jongdae made his way over, placing a mug of water on the table.

 

“So, do you want to tell me why you suddenly barged into my house without any prior warning?” The blonde-haired man asked.

 

Baekhyun remained silent, hands clutching the proffered mug.

 

“Is it that supermarket employee, what was his name, Chanyeol? Did yall fight or something?” Jongdae pressed further. He noticed how his friend visibly stiffened at the mention of the supermarket employee’s name but the latter still refused to speak.

 

Jongdae sighed. Baekhyun had always been stubborn and Jongdae knew that this was one of those times where he just wouldn’t speak unless he wanted to.

 

“I won’t ask anymore questions ok? You can stay here for as long as you like, just help me do housework sometimes,” Jongdae tried again.

 

“T-thank you Jongdae,” Baekhyun finally mumbled.

 

“There’s no need to thank me, we’re friends after all,” Jongdae replied warmly, smiling at Baekhyun. He concluded that Baekhyun and Chanyeol must’ve fought, and the former didn’t want to talk about it just yet. So he simply patted his friend on his shoulder, and went on his way.

 

 

 

 

Jongdae had cleared out a guest bedroom for Baekhyun, and it was here where Baekhyun would be staying temporarily. The room was small and slightly dusty but other than that, it was clean and respectable. Baekhyun busied himself with unpacking, taking out his clothes and hanging them up in the closet. He re-arranged the covers on the bed, borrowed a broom from Jongdae and swept the floor, doing anything to keep his hands and mind busy.

 

After he had finished cleaning the room and unpacking his belongings, he settled on the bed and took out his laptop, intending to start on a new game he had been eyeing.

 

He started playing, immersing himself in shooting zombies until Jongdae called him for dinner.

 

His phone had been buzzing non-stop throughout the day, with 15 missed calls and 30 text messages but he ignored all of them, eventually switching it off when a sudden phone call broke the silence while he was munching on pizza with Jongdae.

 

“Shouldn’t you pick that up?” His friend questioned.

 

“Your phone’s been ringing all day,” Jongdae added, glancing at the device, now silent, on the wooden table.

 

“It’s fine,” Baekhyun replied, as he continued chewing the pizza, a sense of finality in his tone.

 

They continued their meal in silence.

 

 

 

 

The next day, the incessant calls and text messages grew even more intense, becoming a barrage of noise assaulting Baekhyun’s senses.

 

Jongdae glanced at Baekhyun, who was sprawled out on his couch, eyes glued to some inane drama on the screen, slightly worried at his friend’s behaviour and his refusal to pick up any of his calls or reply any of his messages. Besides, wasn’t he supposed to have a date with Chanyeol today?

 

“Hey,” Jongdae called out, shaking Baekhyun’s shoulder to grab his attention. The latter finally turned around sluggishly and looked at his friend with a slight tinge of annoyance in his gaze.

 

“Weren’t you supposed to have a date today?” Jongdae asked.

 

Baekhyun’s expression suddenly became unreadable, hardening until it became an impassive mask.

 

“No, I don’t have a date.” The reply was curt and the brunette immediately turned back to the television.

 

Jongdae sighed. He glanced at his friend, whose back was now turned to him. It seemed like Baekhyun still didn’t want to talk. He must’ve fought pretty badly with Chanyeol if he was even missing the date that he had been looking forward to so much.

 

There was nothing much he could do if Baekhyun refused to tell him what happened so he decided to just leave his friend alone for a while.

 

 

 

 

The next week passed by with the same pattern every day. Baekhyun would wake up at noon and start gaming till Jongdae returned from his part-time job. After dinner, he would retreat to his room and continue gaming till dawn broke and his exhausted body collapsed on the sheets. He had turned his phone to silent permanently, so that he could better ignore the incessant barrage of calls and messages from the same number.

 

It was the middle of the second week when Jongdae finally confronted Baekhyun about the reason why he had suddenly showed up at his apartment.

 

As much as he didn’t mind having his best friend stay at his apartment, Jongdae knew very well that Baekhyun couldn’t stay there and hide from his problems forever.

 

He walked into Baekhyun’s room, where the brunette was engrossed in a shooting game, headphones on. He took a deep breath and opened his mouth, intending to talk some sense into his friend. Baekhyun still wouldn’t tell him anything, but he had to at least try.

 

“Baekhyun.”

 

No response. _Could he not hear him over his game?_

 

He tried again, voice a bit louder this time. Baekhyun’s eyes were still glued to the computer screen, clicking away furiously.

 

Jongdae called Baekhyun’s name over and over again, voice getting progressively louder until he was practically shouting. No matter how loud the game was, there was no way Baekhyun couldn’t hear him. He was probably just ignoring Jongdae on purpose.

 

Jongdae gave up. He was winded from all that shouting and regardless of whether Baekhyun wanted to listen or not, he was just going to speak his mind.

 

“Look, Baekhyun, I really don’t mind you staying over and I’m not trying to chase you out, but you have to sort out whatever it is that’s going on between you and Chanyeol and making you look like a living ghost. You can’t run away from your problems forever,” Jongdae ended, almost pleadingly.

 

Baekhyun didn’t reply. He simply continued killing zombies.

 

Jongdae sighed again. Sometimes, his friend could be really stubborn.

 

“I’m heading out with the guys tonight so don’t fasten the latch.”

 

With a last glance at his friend’s back, he grabbed his keys and left the apartment, leaving Baekhyun alone with his game.

 

 

 

 

Jongdae had gone out clubbing with his friends. Judging from past experience, he probably wouldn’t be back till the sky had turned bright.

 

Baekhyun paused the game and took off his headphones. He slumped in his chair, burying his face in his hands. He had been able to hear Jongdae perfectly well but had chosen to ignore him. How could he even explain what had happened? How could he face his friend if he actually told him the truth?

 

He got up from his desk and plopped down on his bed, an arm over his tired eyes. He knew that Jongdae only meant well and that he was just running away from his problems. He needed to face them sooner or later. If only he could just teleport into his game and spend the rest of his life killing zombies. Then he wouldn’t have to deal with Chanyeol or worse, himself.

 

He was a normal college student. He didn’t have some strange kink. He wasn’t weird.

 

“I’m normal.”

 

Baekhyun said the words out loud. Then repeated them over and over again like a mantra, desperately trying to convince himself of the veracity of his words.

 

“I’m normal I’m normal I’m normal…”

 

_But normal college students don’t jerk themselves off to the sensation of a knife on their bodies_ , a voice in his head reminded him.

 

Normal college students did not get turned on by the prospect of being choked to death. Normal college students did not moan like whores when a knife was pressed against their necks. Normal college students were not fascinated by tall, dark-haired murderers with kind smiles.

 

Normal college students did not touch themselves to the thought of getting mutilated by tall, dark-haired murderers like what Baekhyun was doing now.

 

He shivered and bit his trembling bottom lip as his right hand moved up and down, pumping his cock in slow, even strokes. For the past week, he had succeeded in ignoring his body’s desires, by preoccupying himself with games but his self-imposed restraints were slowly crumbling down. It was just like Chanyeol had said, there was no turning back.

 

Desire hit him in waves, rolling over his shuddering body. He had stripped off all his clothes in a frenzy and they were now lying in a messy pile on the floor, not unlike the day when he had returned to his dorm on shaky feet after discovering the truth about Chanyeol. Despite it being early winter, his skin was flushed and he was sweating profusely. He couldn’t take it anymore, he desperately needed the empty hole in his chest to be filled, he needed his twisted desire to be sated and only one person could do that for him.

 

He brought his free hand to his mouth and plunged three fingers in his mouth, coating them with saliva. He didn’t have lube so his body’s natural fluids would have to do. He spread his legs further apart and gingerly pushed one finger inside him, instinctively quivering at the sensation. Gaining more confidence, he pushed a second finger inside, and started scissoring himself, all the while trying to recall the vivid feeling of a knife tracing lines on his unmarked chest. He recalled how the knife had run across his hardened nipples and pushed a third finger inside himself, grimacing slightly at the pain. He ran his free hand over his body, tracing the faint scar that Chanyeol had left on his hipbone. He closed his eyes and further recalled how Chanyeol had pushed him down on the couch, straddled him while choking his delicate neck, how he had felt completely helpless beneath the larger body on top of him. It was a visualisation of the taller man atop him, thrusting into him mercilessly, that finally had him come with a gasp of the other’s name.

 

After calming down from the initial high of coming, Baekhyun’s senses slowly returned to him. What had he done? He stared at his dirty fingers, coated in his own come and saliva. He had escaped from his dorm room to erase all memories of Chanyeol and what he had stirred up in him yet all his efforts had just turned to naught.

 

Was there really no way out of this? Was Baekhyun really just a twisted soul, unable to resist temptation in the end?

 

Tears prickled his eyes and he let them fall freely, curling himself into a ball as sobs racked his body.

 

 

 

 

“I want to get laid.”

 

What? Had he heard wrong? Was he still hungover? Jongdae had just come out of his room slightly after mid-day when his stomach had grumbled and the first thing he heard was Baekhyun uttering those words in a deadpan voice to him.

 

His eyes widened like saucers.

 

“A-are you sure? Aren’t you dating that Chanyeol guy?”

 

Baekhyun had simply ignored his question and repeated his statement.

 

“I want to get laid. Can you hook me with up someone?”

 

Jongdae hadn’t been one to refuse, though he was certainly confused as hell, and that’s why they were currently at his favourite club, The Red Peppers.

 

He glanced over at his friend. Baekhyun had been dressed to kill that night, sporting a low-cut shirt and tight leather pants, and he was practically pressing himself against some tall, attractive-looking guy now, as if he had suddenly put on the persona of a temptress.

 

There was definitely something wrong with Baekhyun but his friend still refused to tell him anything. The least he could do was ensure his friend’s safety though, so he had introduced him to one of his friends, Oh Sehun. Being an avid club-goer, Jongdae had his fair share of sketchy friends, but cheesy as Sehun may be, he knew that the taller was at least a decent person. At any rate, he seemed to have hit the jackpot with Sehun as Baekhyun was currently glued to him. He had a sneaking suspicion that his friend had a thing for tall, dark-haired, handsome men, so he had recommended Sehun immediately and of course the flirt wasn’t about to pass up a chance to get laid.

 

The two seemed to be getting it on in the corner, with the taller whispering something in the smaller’s ear and dragging him away to god knows where. Jongdae simply took a swig of his vodka, hopping off the bar stool as he headed towards the dance floor. It was going to be a long night, and he might as well have some fun as well.

 

 

 

 

Baekhyun found himself pressed up against the wall of the back alley near the club. He seemed to have a strange affinity with walls. The man in front of him was breathing down his neck, his breath stained with the stench of alcohol.

 

Oh Sehun huh, Jongdae had recommended him after Baekhyun had announced his plans to get laid in front of the shell-shocked man. He wasn’t too bad, he was attractive as hell to the ordinary person at least, with his tall and toned physique, stylishly gelled black hair and chiselled jaw, but something was missing. He was missing that extra something that made Baekhyun’s heart race and legs turn to jelly. Oh Sehun was like a brownie which looked delectable on the surface but had an astonishing lack of flavour. Regardless of the strangely empty feeling in his chest, Baekhyun pushed all his thoughts away and tried to focus on the man’s hands on his body. He was currently feeling Baekhyun up, one hand delving under his shirt and the other grabbing his ass. Under any normal circumstances, his ministrations should have sent Baekhyun into a frenzy but he could barely find it in himself to feign interest. All he felt was numbness.

 

“You’re so hot, you know that?” A voice whispered in his ear, sounding distant and far-off, as if the person was shouting across the road to someone standing 20 metres away.

 

Suddenly, he saw a pair of lips leaning in, slowly but surely closing the distance between them. Baekhyun pursed his lips shut instinctively. This felt wrong. The hands on his body, the breath on his cheek didn’t belong, couldn’t satisfy.

 

With a shove, he gathered his strength and pushed the man in front of him away, not even bothering to apologise, before he broke out into a run.

 

For what seemed like ages, he just kept running and running, feeling the cool night air on his back, ignoring the chill, ignoring the shouts behind him. He just kept running, not caring where his feet took him. He just wanted to get as far away from the club as possible. He just wanted to run away from his emotions, from the images of a dark-haired supermarket employee flooding his mind, from his own carnal desires.

 

He continued running aimlessly, passing empty streets and flickering streetlamps. He kept running, passing hole-in-the-wall pizza places and closed shutters, until he came to a stop in front of a large shop, its bright neon sign illuminating the dark street, white light enveloping its interior, a dark-haired figure standing silently in front of the entrance, round-rimmed spectacles framing his eyes, lips tilted up in a familiar smile.

 

“C-Chanyeol.”

 

Baekhyun stumbled towards the figure on clumsy feet, vision blurry, unsure if what he was seeing was reality or just the fabrication of his muddled brain. But he forged on anyway, reaching out blindly until he fell into the warm arms of the figure before him and realised that he was in fact, real, and not simply a product of his imagination.

 

Tears threatened to fall from his eyes as he willed himself to look up into the eyes of the taller man, cold hands grasping his face tightly.

 

“I missed you so much,” he all but sobbed into the dark-haired man’s chest.

 

“I missed you too,” Chanyeol replied, hugging him close, enveloping Baekhyun in his warmth.

 

They half-tumbled, half-walked back to Baekhyun’s dorm, kicking off their shoes clumsily. They tore at each other’s clothes, hands and lips fervently trying to touch every inch of skin with desperate passion. They eventually landed on the bed, Chanyeol atop the smaller man, and for a moment they paused in their frenzied dance to just stare into each other’s eyes. Baekhyun stared into the dark, deep eyes of the man he had been fascinated with, the man that made his heart full to the point of bursting and Chanyeol gazed back, dark eyes meeting chocolate-brown, gazing down at the lithe body he had been obsessed with, burning with the desire to ravish and find out just how much this body could take, how far he could go before it broke.

 

Chanyeol grabbed Baekhyun’s hair roughly, pulling his neck up as he bent down and placed his mouth on the other’s soft lips, forcefully shoving his tongue inside, intent on exploring every crevice of the other’s mouth, tracing over his teeth, entwining with his tongue, until the other started gasping for breath.

 

He brought his mouth down, trailing kisses down Baekhyun’s jaw and neck, switching between gentle, open-mouthed kisses and hard nips. He found the crook of Baekhyun’s neck and bit down on it harshly, drawing a loud moan from the other. He sucked and bit at the spot, leaving a dark red mark behind, as he moved down to work on the other’s chest. The smaller’s nipples were already hard, and he smirked as he blew hot air towards them, enjoying the way the smaller quivered under him. His tongue peeked out and he licked the nub teasingly, at a tantalisingly slow speed, his other hand pinching and playing with the other nub roughly.

 

“P-please…” Baekhyun begged, arching his back, aching for more friction.

 

Chanyeol finally acceded to his request and engulfed the nub in his mouth, licking and sucking it hard, while teasing the tip of Baekhyun’s cock, which was already leaking with precome with his free hand. The contact to his neglected cock caused Baekhyun to buck his hips up unconsciously, and he instinctively moved to touch it, to get more of that friction he craved.

 

His hand was slapped away and in the next moment, his wrists were pinned above his head, a larger hand covering them.

 

“No touching,” Chanyeol warned, a glint in his eye.

 

“S-sorry, I won’t do it again, please just touch me,” Baekhyun begged, eyes filled with despair.

 

“You won’t do it again you say? Let’s make sure of that.”

 

Without releasing his grip, Chanyeol picked up his belt from beside the bed and cuffed Baekhyun’s wrists to the headboard, making sure the restraints were tight and secure.

 

“W-what are you doing?” Baekhyun sputtered, trying to hold back a moan when he felt the harsh leather against his wrists when he pulled on his restraints. His dick stiffened even more, and this was not gone unnoticed by Chanyeol, whose smirk widened. Baekhyun couldn’t help it, he couldn’t help how his treacherous body loved the feeling of submission and losing control.

 

Baekhyun watched, mesmerised, as Chanyeol reached for his coat on the floor and fished out a bottle of lube, coating his fingers with a generous amount of the sticky substance. He circled the rim with his index finger teasingly, making the smaller squirm even more and whine before he finally pushed his finger inside. He then eased a second finger, and a third inside, long fingers snaking around inside Baekhyun, searching for his prostate before he finally found it and jammed his fingers into that spot, drawing a particularly sweet moan from the smaller.

 

“P-please…” The brunette started whining again, beads of sweat trailing down his face, his messy mop of a fringe plastered to his forehead.

 

“What do you want, baby?” Chanyeol teased, voice dipping lower.

 

The smaller looked away shyly, despite being completely exposed, and after a moment’s hesitation, he finally spoke, his voice so soft that the words he muttered were almost inaudible.

 

“Fuck me,” he whispered, peeking up through his eyelashes at the taller.

 

That look nearly made Chanyeol go over the edge. Without further hesitation, he took out his fingers with a squelch, slicking up his cock and pushing it into the warm, inviting hole.

 

Chanyeol built up a steady rhythm, alternating between hard, fast thrusts and long, slow ones, every precisely-aimed thrust hitting Baekhyun’s prostate, drawing a cacophony of long, sweet moans from the brunette.

 

“P-please… Touch me…” the smaller whined, his neglected cock throbbing with need.

 

“No. You’ll come untouched,” Chanyeol growled as his hands reached up, placing them firmly around Baekhyun’s neck, slowly applying an increasing amount of pressure.

 

Baekhyun’s head was going crazy with all the sensations that were bombarding him. He had never come untouched before, but as the pressure on his neck increased, slowly cutting off his supply of oxygen and making it harder and harder to breathe, he felt the coil in his stomach tightening.

 

From the increasingly erratic thrusts, he could tell that the taller was close, and just as black spots filled his vision and an overwhelming warmth filled his insides, he felt himself unravelling, coming undone, a strangled cry of “Chanyeol” emitting from his parched lips.

 

He felt something slide out of him as the pressure on his neck lifted and large hands fumbled over the clasps holding him immobile, before he felt a large weight collapse on him, ruffling his hair and pulling him close to his chest.

 

He was too weak, brain too addled and body having melted to mush to comprehend what had just happened, and he suddenly felt extremely tired. He closed his eyes and snuggled closer to the warm body against his, falling asleep to a comforting voice whispering “good night” in his ear.

 

When Baekhyun woke up, he found himself lying on his bed, wrapped up in a thick blanket, the freshly vacated spot beside him still holding a vestige of warmth and he instinctively rolled over to it, basking in the leftover warmth and the comforting scent.

 

“Oh, you’re up. Breakfast is ready.”

 

Baekhyun turned his head and saw Chanyeol walking out of the kitchen, holding two plates filled with freshly cooked scrambled eggs and sausages on them. The delicious aroma wafted into his nostrils, and he couldn’t wait to try the food.

 

He pushed the covers away and sat up. He felt the cool temperature of the room on his bare chest and realised that he was naked. He blushed as he recalled the events of last night. There was no trace of dried come on his stomach or thighs though. Chanyeol must’ve cleaned him up.

 

He quickly changed into a T-shirt and sweatpants and headed over to the small table in front of the couch, where Chanyeol was already sitting down.

 

“Morning baby,” the taller greeted as Baekhyun moved to sit beside him, ruffling his hair affectionately.

 

“Morning Chanyeol,” Baekhyun greeted back, a feeling of warmth spreading through his chest at the term of endearment.

 

He took a bite of the food. It was delicious. It tasted better than anything he had ever made, which was saying a lot.

 

“It’s delicious,” he mumbled through his full mouth as he looked at Chanyeol. The taller threw him a warm smile, before starting on his plate.

 

They continued eating their meal, and Baekhyun thought that he had never felt as blessed, as satiated, as whole as Chanyeol made him feel in his life. He was a fool, he should have known that there was no point in denying his own desires, denying himself of who he really wanted, when he knew the answer all along and came crawling back to it. This moment was bliss, utter happiness, and Baekhyun just wanted to bask in it and enjoy it to the fullest.

 

Chanyeol smiled at the obviously happy boy beside him as he ate his meal. As expected, Baekhyun had come running back to him after all. Distance makes the heart grow fonder, sometimes old adages were actually true huh, he thought triumphantly. After searching for so long, after having to dirty his hands on vile, unworthy subjects, he had finally found the perfect subject for his experiment, who had in fact come running to him. Chanyeol recalled their first encounter, how the clumsy boy had collided into him, how his impulsive, confused self had made him take the first step and ask Chanyeol out, and how he was irresistibly drawn to danger no matter how much he tried to fight his desires. Chanyeol wasn’t one who cared about people particularly, he was generally apathetic to the faceless souls he saw everyday, but he found the small brunette eagerly munching on his eggs and sausages endearing, the way he constantly sought him like an overly eager puppy wagging its tails endearing even. And of course, the boy yearned to be broken as much as Chanyeol yearned to break him.

 

They were truly tailor-made for each other.

 

 

 

 

“As you can see from this chart, we have received as many as eight missing persons reports in the span of two weeks. This is a 30% spike as compared to the same period of time last year,” Do Kyungsoo, Head of the Missing Persons Division, explained, as he gazed sternly at the officers gathered in the meeting room.

 

A hand at the far end of the table shot up.

 

“Sir, are we aware of any similarities between the missing persons?”

 

Kyungsoo glanced at the officer, his shiny silver badge revealing that he was from the Homicide Division, the largest and most well-respected section in the Seoul Police Department.

 

“As of now, no. The missing persons have no similarities in terms of age, sex or ethnicity. They range from an 84-year-old elderly woman to a 15-year-old middle school boy. Our division is currently conducting a detailed background check on the eight missing persons but we have yet to find any points of connection between them.”

 

“What we can be sure of, is that this is no simple case. Considering the time frame in which they disappeared, we can rule out the possibility of them simply having gotten lost. It is highly likely that they have been abducted. Whether by an organisation or an individual, it is still unclear,” Kyungsoo continued, choosing his words carefully.

 

“So you’re saying that these are not mere disappearances, but someone is behind them,” another officer from the same division spoke up.

 

Kyungsoo nodded.

 

“In that case, do you have any evidence to back up this claim?” the same officer continued.

 

“Our team is currently searching for evidence. We have interviewed the family members and friends of the missing persons and are on the look-out for any eye witnesses as well.”

 

“So you have nothing,” the officer scoffed.

 

Kyungsoo pushed back the rising wave of irritation within him. He forced himself to stay calm. Losing his temper here would do no good for his case. Instead, he met the officer’s taunting look with a level stare of his own.

 

“Our team is diligently searching for evidence as you speak.”

 

A rotund officer, who Kyungsoo recognised as the head of the Homicide Division, decided to speak up. His gruff voice was laced with annoyance and sounded like nails on a chalkboard to Kyungsoo.

 

“Stop wasting our time. I bet these cases are completely unrelated. Who knows, maybe they all decided to fall down the rabbit’s hole,”

 

The rotund officer guffawed at his own joke, his own obnoxious laughter echoing throughout the large conference room.

 

“This is no laughing matter. These people could be in danger as we speak and we need all the resources we can to search for them. This meeting is to inform you all of this alarming situation and to request your cooperation,” Kyungsoo bit back.

 

“Ya, ya, whatever, just end this already,” the head of the Homicide Division yawned and rolled his eyes.

 

Kyungsoo looked around the table, at the mass of bored, sceptical faces staring up at him. He should’ve known that it was fruitless to even ask these incompetent people for assistance. The Missing Persons Division had always been looked down upon within the police department for allegedly wasting time and resources on hopeless cases and for not producing results. As a result, they were severely understaffed compared to the other divisions. He already had his few officers working under the clock, looking for clues to solve the case and yet the other divisions were just running their mouths off without helping at all. Unlike the bunch of useless fools before him, Kyungsoo took pride in his work. He understood the anxiety and worry that the families of missing persons were burdened with and seeing their faces light up when he told them that their son or daughter was coming home gave him immense fulfilment. It made all the long hours and gruelling nature of the job worthwhile. This was by far the case on the largest-scale that he had ever handled, but he was determined to piece the pieces together no matter what, even if he had to do it on his own.

 

After the unsatisfying meeting ended, Kyungsoo strode into his office straightaway and asked for a report on the latest findings of the investigation.

 

“Sir, we have compiled a list of the places which the eight missing persons had frequented as well as the place they were last seen or last purported to go. I have dispatched officers to comb those places and the surrounding areas for clues,” Kyungsoo’s assistant, a bright-eyed young man, Kim Jongin, placed a thick folder on his table. Jongin had graduated at the top of his class at the police academy, and his eye for detail and connecting the dots had helped them solve a good many cases. He would surely become a promising officer.

 

Jongin continued with his report: “One of the missing persons, a twenty-year-old university student, Lee Jisoo, was found to frequent a club called Xs&Os. According to her friends who had accompanied her, she stepped out to grab some fresh air and never returned.”

 

“Go on,” Kyungsoo nodded encouragingly.

 

“We combed the surrounding area, paying special attention to dim-lit, secluded areas and found this in one of the alleys three blocks down from the club.”

 

Jongin placed a small ziplock bag with a button encased in it on Kyungsoo’s desk.

 

Kyungsoo picked up the ziplock bag and examined the button. It was a white, plastic, flat button with black stripes running vertically across its surface. Judging from the size and design of the button, it most likely belonged to a man’s coat.

 

This may have the clue they were looking for.

 

“Good work Jongin, I think this may be just what we need,” Kyungsoo smiled. Finally something that could give them a lead.

 

Kyungsoo turned back to Jongin, who was still standing in front of his desk, awaiting his next orders.

 

“Search all the clothing shops in Seoul. In particular, look for men’s winter coats which carry buttons that have a similar design,” Kyungsoo instructed.

 

“Yes sir.” Jongin saluted and left the room, closing the door behind him carefully.

 

Kyungsoo let out a sigh of relief. He knew it was too soon to relax, there were still many things they didn’t know, but at least they had something now. He could do this, he would solve the case, at all costs.

 

 

 

 

“Sir, I apologise for disrupting your business but I am with the police and I would like to ask you a few questions,” Jongin said, as he flashed his ID card.

 

The department store manager, a middle-aged man with an impeccably pressed suit and neatly gelled hair looked a bit bewildered but complied nonetheless.

 

Jongin got down to business and held up the Ziploc bag containing the striped button.

 

“What articles of clothing contain this button?” he asked simply.

 

The store manager adjusted his glasses on his nose and squinted at the button.

 

“This is quite a unique design. Not many clothes carry buttons with such patterns. Allow me to perform a check using our system,” he said.

 

Jongin nodded and simply waited for a few moments while the manager pulled up the store’s inventory on a computer, the man typing some keywords into the system.

 

A few seconds later, the search results loaded onto the screen and the manager gestured for him to look at the screen.

 

“This button comes from a line of limited edition men’s winter coats released last season from the Italian brand Fenccini,” the manager explained.

 

Limited edition huh. That may be the clue he needed.

 

“How many pieces were available?” Jongin asked?

 

“Only 100. The pieces were sold exclusively at our department store and they were especially for valued customers who had a Fenccini membership card,” the manager said proudly, puffing out his chest like a peacock.

 

A limited edition coat that was exclusive to members? Jongin couldn’t believe his luck.

 

He quickly requested the manager to provide him with a list of the members who had purchased the coat as well as their personal particulars.

 

He leafed through the documents, glancing at them briefly. 51 customers had purchased the coat. He would have to interrogate them one by one. Well 51 wasn’t too bad. He had already lucked out on the membership thing. Without that, he would probably have had to pore through hours and hours of CCTV footage, looking for customers who bought that particular coat. It would have taken ages and was akin to searching for a needle in a haystack.

 

Jongin thanked the manager for his help and drove back to the office, intending to organise the documents and decide on a schedule for visiting the customers.

 

He stopped in front of a pedestrian crossing, waiting for the lights to turn green, as a throng of passers-by walked past, bundled in their coats and scarves. The weather was getting chilly and more and more people were opting for thick, padded coats.

 

The lights turned green and Jongin drove off, without so much as a glance at the passers-by.

 

 

 

 

The lights turned green. Chanyeol walked across the pedestrian crossing with long strides, pulling the front of his coat together. It had been getting colder lately. As he did so, he noticed a stray thread where a button should have been on the left side of his coat. He frowned. The button must have dropped off somewhere without him noticing. He had bought this coat around a year ago when he had been searching for a new coat to replace his old, worn one, when his favourite brand Fenccini released a limited edition winter coat exclusively for members. There had only been a hundred pieces, and he remembered waking up early and queuing in front of the department store just to get his hands on the coat. The coat boasted unique striped buttons which had immediately gotten his attention. It wasn’t everyday that you found a coat with buttons like that after all. Chanyeol didn’t care much for clothes but he really liked Fenccini as the brand always launched high-quality yet affordable clothes. Perfect for a university student.

 

It was a shame that a button had dropped off but there was nothing he could do about it. For now, he had to hurry back to Baekhyun. His shift had ended a bit later today and he was curious to see how the brunette was holding up.

 

A smirk came to his face and he quickened his steps, not even sparing a glance as he walked past a police car, its sleep-deprived driver looking fixedly at the traffic lights, waiting impatiently for them to change.

 

 

 

 

“C-Chanyeol…” Baekhyun whined softly. He was currently in Chanyeol’s laboratory, lying on a long white table, or more precisely, bound to the table with cloth restraints.

 

The taller man was not in sight, having gone to the supermarket to work his part-time shift. It had been an hour? Two hours? Baekhyun wasn’t sure exactly how long it had been. A haze of need and desire had clouded his brain, and every fibre of his being sought sweet release.

 

Alas, that sense of fireworks exploding within him was so near yet so far away. Before Chanyeol had left, he had shoved a vibrator up Baekhyun’s ass and tied him securely to the table. All Baekhyun could do was wriggle his fingers and toes. To make matters worse, the taller man had placed a cock ring on him, as he smirked and kissed him goodbye, before leaving Baekhyun alone to drown in his own aching need.

 

Baekhyun squirmed uncontrollably, desperately clawing at his restraints in a futile attempt to break free and touch himself. He was well aware that the more he squirmed, the more he aggravated his own plight as the vibrator lodged deeper within him, just barely grazing his prostate but not being nearly deep enough to give him pleasure. The feeling of having something within his reach yet being not quite near away was tortuous. His bare skin was flushed pink, covered with a sheen of sweat, and by this time he was long past the embarrassment of seeing himself completely spread out on a table, panting lewdly, eyes almost rolling back in his head. He was so far gone that he couldn’t bring himself to care about anything else except coming. He had thrown his pride and dignity away, trampled them beneath his boots, the moment he came running back to Chanyeol like a dog with its tail between its legs.

 

Their relationship was unconventional to say the least, but it did not bother Baekhyun at all. Nor did it seem to bother his dark-haired boyfriend? Could he even call him that, he wondered. They certainly acted like a couple; the taller would smile at him and even kiss him affectionately, they would go out on dates, in fact, to any random observer, they probably resembled a run-of-the-mill, lovey-dovey couple. The random observer wouldn’t know that after the tender kisses and hugs had been exchanged, Baekhyun would be manhandled roughly, slammed to the ground or more often than not the bed, that Chanyeol would fuck him roughly into the mattress, sometimes choking him, sometimes making thin cuts across his body with a knife, sometimes just leaving him alone, bound and gagged with a vibrator up his ass, while he checked on his condition every hour, dark eyes observing, taking in the scene before him, always scribbling away furiously in his notebook, recording each and every reaction that Baekhyun made. Sometimes he would even switch things up a little, taking away his senses completely, spanking him even, all to determine what would make Baekhyun break the soonest.

 

Today was one of those days, when Chanyeol carried out his experiments. Despite his precarious position, Baekhyun didn’t mind in the slightest. In fact, he enjoyed it, he loved the experiments. He loved feeling like his mind, his body, his life, was in someone else’s control, and he could just submit. He loved being broken. Oh he loved it so much.

 

His mind and body were irresistibly drawn to the dark-haired man. He had dabbled with relationships in the past, but no one had ever made him feel this way, as if the colour would ebb away from his world if he were to leave this person. If his world had been painted in shades of dull, boring grey before, Chanyeol painted his world with vibrant hues of blue, yellow, green, red; his world now was so saturated with colour that it almost hurt his eyes. But it was thrilling, exciting, being with Chanyeol made him feel whole, feel alive. And he didn’t care, didn’t want to care about anything else.

 

 

 

 

The sound of a key card swiping the panel on the door jolted Baekhyun from his lust-filled reverie. Chanyeol was back. He couldn’t help himself from squirming violently, back arching off the table, as he saw the dark-haired man step over the threshold, still dressed in his uniform. The moment his eyes met that piercing gaze of his, an intense wave of lust crashed over him. He wanted to be filled, to be broken and torn apart by him so bad.

 

As if sensing his thoughts, the taller man smirked, before stepping closer caressing Baekhyun’s cheek.

 

“Sweetie, I’m back,” he whispered deviously into the other’s ear, causing Baekhyun’s eyes to roll back into his head and his body to jerk.

 

Chanyeol then took out the towel he had stuffed in Baekhyun’s mouth, the fabric having been soaked with sweat and saliva at this point. Fresh air hit Baekhyun’s lungs and he almost choked at the sudden influx of oxygen.

 

“C-Chanyeol… P-Please… Fuck me now, I can’t take it any longer,” the brunette practically pleaded.

 

Ignoring his pleas, said man unlocked his drawer and took out a logbook and pen, scribbling something down like he always did as his eyes flitted over Baekhyun’s quivering form.

 

_4 hours 2 minutes. That’s 23 minutes shorter than usual. He must be particularly needy today_ , Chanyeol thought, as he checked his watch.

 

He had repeated this particular experiment four times now, today being the fifth. The first time Chanyeol had tried the experiment, Baekhyun had broke down within an hour, begging over and over again, tears in his eyes, for Chanyeol to please fuck him. To the smaller’s credit, his endurance had steadily increased as Chanyeol repeated the experiments. On average, Baekhyun could last for 4 hours and 25 minutes though he couldn’t rule out the possibility of a conditioning effect being present as well. On a good day, he could even keep his spirit for a solid five hours, though today didn’t seem to be one of those days. From his detailed observations and notes, Chanyeol had become proficient at discerning and predicting the moment when Baekhyun would break down and start begging. The easiest way to tell was by looking at his eyes. He knew that the smaller wouldn’t be able to take much longer when his eyes started rolling back into his head.

 

As of now, the brunette was squirming and quivering on the table, as his mouth hung open, panting Chanyeol’s name, his eyes rolling back into his head as shudders wracked his body. It was time. Baekhyun had been a good boy today, keeping silent and not struggling as much as he usually did so Chanyeol figured he could give him a reward. He walked over to the table where Baekhyun lay and took out the vibrator.

 

The smaller man whimpered at the loss of contact but his eyes widened when he saw Chanyeol unclasping the hooks of his belt.

 

Chanyeol reached across and patted his head almost affectionately: “You’ve been a good boy today, so I figured I give you a reward.”

 

Chanyeol didn’t usually fuck him after the experiments. He would just take out the vibrator and cock ring, and Baekhyun would come almost instantly. This was a rare occasion. Chanyeol must be in a good mood, he thought.

 

His musings didn’t last for long as all coherent thought was soon blasted out of his mind by the long, hard thrusts accurately hitting his prostate and Baekhyun surrendered himself once again to the feeling of being whole.

 

 

 

 

Jongin sipped on what must’ve been his third cup of coffee. It was past office hours, 11.30pm to be exact and the office had long since been vacated, leaving only a pile of disused hard drives for company. His colleagues from the other divisions had scoffed at him while they cruised out as he walked in at 7.30pm. He had simply ignored them, and walked straight to his desk, dumping his documents on it and switching on his desktop. He had only been at the job for six months, but in that short span of time he had learnt, often the hard way in his early days, that practically everyone looked down on the Missing Persons Division. He had been puzzled by the looks ranging from pity to contempt thrown his way when he had walked in and introduced himself as a new member of the Missing Persons Division on his first day, but a couple of months on the job had hardened him, and now he no longer bat an eyelid in response to his colleagues’ snide remarks.

 

As Jongin waited for his brick of a computer to load the next clip - they always threw the lousiest, buggiest computers to his department - he thought back to when he had first started work in the Missing Persons Division. He recalled the way Kyungsoo, his boss, had patted him on the shoulder kindly and how he always took care of him, giving him advice, reprimanding him when he made mistakes but always teaching him patiently afterwards, and how he had straight-up invited him for lunch on his first day when his colleagues had simply treated him as invisible. In his mind, Kyungsoo was truly the ideal boss, the ideal police officer even, who took pride in his work and always did his best no matter how tough the job was, and he truly looked up to the man.

 

“Jongin, you’re still here?” his superior called out to him as he stepped out of his office.

 

Jongin hadn’t realised that the lights in his boss’ office were still on, having been too preoccupied with scouring through the documents and carrying out background checks on the customers.

 

“Oh, sir, I was just checking up these customers. I found a lead on that case, you see,” Jongin replied.

 

He quickly filled Kyungsoo in on what he had discovered, that the button had belonged to a limited edition line of coats from the Italian brand Fenccini, and how it was exclusive to members of the brand.

 

“Good work, I knew you had it in you,” Kyungsoo smiled, patting him on the back.

 

He then took a handful of papers in his hands: “You haven’t looked through these yet right? I’ll help you with them.”

 

Jongin looked up in appreciation.

 

“Thank you so much sir. You’re truly the best,” he grinned.

 

“Of course, I’m the best boss in the world,” Kyungsoo laughed.

 

“And I’m ordering pizza too, no complaints right?”

 

“Sure, thanks sir,” Jongin beamed.

 

With renewed motivation, Jongin cracked his knuckles and turned back to his work.

 

The night suddenly seemed much less dreary.

 

 

 

 

Jongin yawned and stretched, lifting his arms above his head. He had spent the entire night performing background checks on the list of customers, evaluating them in terms of how likely they were to commit a crime and shifting his priorities accordingly. With Kyungsoo's help, the process had taken much shorter than he had expected but alas, it was close to 7 in the morning when the two officers finally managed to narrow down and compile a list of customers to be interrogated at the soonest.

  
  
"Good work," Kyungsoo patted Jongin on the back when they had finally completed the first of many arduous tasks to come.

  
  
Dirty coffee mugs and empty pizza boxes littered their desks. It had been a long, sleepless night but at least they were finally a step closer to solving the case.

  
  
Kyungsoo was currently peering over the printed sheet of the customers’ particulars, his eyes scanning over the pages quickly. Apparently Fenccini catered to young men in their twenties as most of the customers were quite youthful. There were quite a handful of university students too. Kyungsoo briefly glanced at a picture of a bespectacled young man with tousled black hair, before he turned the page and continued scrutinising the rest of the customers.

  
  
"Jongin, I want you to talk to these customers and ask if they have lost a button recently. Take note of anyone who seems suspicious," Kyungsoo instructed.

  
  
"Yes sir."

  
  
"There's still some time before that. For now, get some rest," Kyungsoo smiled warmly at his assistant before standing up and heading back into his office.

  
  
At times like these, Jongin truly appreciated having a kind and understanding superior like Kyungsoo. Without needing to be told twice, he laid his head on his desk and his tired eyes finally found temporary respite.

  
  
After a short nap, Jongin applied for an investigation warrant and proceeded to visit each of the customers on the priority list. The morning passed by in a blur as he crossed off the first four names. None of them had missing buttons and didn’t seem suspicious in the slightest. Jongin had placed one of the customers, a 26-year-old unemployed man Park Jungsook on the top of the priority list, but turned out that he was just a socially awkward otaku who hadn’t even left his house for the past two years. His mother had been the one who bought the coat for him as a birthday present though Jongin wondered what was the point since her son never left the house anyway.

  
  
On the drive to the next customer’s house, Jongin passed by a supermarket. He thought back to how Kyungsoo had stayed up and helped him with his work, how the older had always taken care of him, and he figured the least he could do to show his appreciation was to get some of the older's favourite snacks for him. He knew that his boss, though stern-looking on the outside, had an unhealthy obsession with all things sweet and thought about getting some gummy bears for him.

  
  
After parking the police car at the nearby carpark, he strode into the brightly-lit supermarket. It was an early weekday and there weren't many people in the supermarket. Jongin quickly located the sweets section and grabbed two bags of gummy bears, before striding to the cashier.

  
  
The cashier who took his order was a tall, bespectacled young man who had a mop of tousled dark hair under his employee's cap. As the cashier went about scanning his items, Jongin couldn't shake off the feeling that he had seen this man somewhere before. His face seemed oddly familiar, yet Jongin couldn't place where he had seen it.

  
  
"That will be $11.90, sir. Would you like to pay by cash or card?"

  
  
The cashier's polite voice jolted him out of his thoughts. While he had been trying to recall where he had seen the cashier, he had been unconsciously staring. He stared at the man's face for what must have been a second too long as the cashier cleared his throat and politely inquired again: "Sir?"

  
  
"O-oh. Um, by card," Jongin hastily answered as he took out his wallet from his pocket and fished for his credit card.

 

As he looked down towards his pocket, Jongin's gaze landed on the cashier's name tag, neatly pinned to his striped uniform.

  
  
Park Chanyeol.

  
  
_Park Chanyeol_. The name rang a bell. He had seen that name before, not too long ago in fact. Where had he seen it? He searched through his memory, and finally remembered.

  
  
He had seen it on a list of members of the department store.

  
  
All the pieces came together then. Park Chanyeol was one of the customers who had purchased the limited edition Fenccini coat.

  
  
As Jongin passed Chanyeol his card, he asked: "Say, by any means, have you heard of the brand Fenccini before? They released this limited edition coat last year and I heard it was really popular."

 

“Ah Fenccini, yes I've heard of it. It's quite a popular brand.”

 

“Have you bought anything from them before?”

  
  
Chanyeol's outstretched hand stiffened just a milimeter, before he quickly composed himself and took Jongin's card.

  
  
The slight motion did not go unescaped by the sharp officer though, and he stared at Chanyeol, a hint of suspicion in his eyes, despite the other showing nothing but his polite, friendly, supermarket employee demeanour as he replied smoothly: "Fenccini is really popular so I'm sure I must've purchased something of theirs at some point."

  
  
Unsatisfied with his answer, and unable to quell the wave of suspicion rising within him, Jongin opened his mouth to ask further when a woman behind him tsked rather loudly and glared at him.

  
  
The cashier continued packing his items with swift efficiency.

 

Jongin contemplated being an inconsiderate customer and just continuing with his barrage of questions for a second, before thinking better of it. He had a warrant. He could just knock on this guy’s door at a better time.

 

Jongin took his bags and left, not before casting a sharp glance at the cashier.  


  
"Have a good day sir", said Chanyeol, his eyes meeting Jongin's briefly.

  
  
Chanyeol’s eyes lingered on Jongin’s retreating figure before he resumed scanning the items of the next customer.

 

 

 

 

After clearing the priority list, Jongin drove back to the supermarket. Park Chanyeol was nowhere to be seen this time. _His shift must have ended_.

 

He could have went straight to the cashier’s apartment to question him but in the event that he was indeed suspicious, doing so would probably alarm the other and he may even try to cover his tracks.

  
  
He headed straight for the store manager and flashed his warrant, before proceeding to ask him a few questions about Park Chanyeol. For good measure, he also asked a few of the employees about the cashier.

  
  
Their responses were all the same, saying that Chanyeol was a diligent, hardworking employee who was always polite and kind to everyone around him.

  
  
"He's seriously one of our best employees," the manager guffawed, when Jongin had inquired about Chanyeol.

 

No questionable incidences, no breaches of conduct, no matter who or what he asked, the response was the same. In his co-workers' eyes, Chanyeol was pretty much the perfect employee.

  
  
"Oh, but I heard that he's gay," one of the female part-timers whispered.

  
  
"I saw him walking hand in hand with this shorter guy who looks like his boyfriend before," another girl chimed in.

  
  
Jongin fought the urge to roll his eyes at the idle gossip. Whether Park Chanyeol was gay or not was completely useless to his case. Regardless, Jongin tried to mask his annoyance at having wasted his time and thanked the employees for their time, not missing the loudly whispered, "he's good-looking, isn't he?", as the employees openly gossiped about him the moment his back was turned.

  
  
Jongin was about to drive to the other customers' houses to interrogate them, when he glimpsed Park Chanyeol walking past with a shorter man beside him. Jongin couldn't see the shorter man's face, but from the way he clutched onto the other's arm, it was clear that they shared an intimate relationship.

  
  
Maybe the part-timers' gossip had some truth to it after all, he thought. After thinking for a while, he decided to follow the pair. There was no harm in doing so after all, and he may find out more about Park Chanyeol in the process too.

  
  
So off he went, furtively tailing the pair as he cursed himself for not having brought a cap or mask or any form of disguise. He followed the two as they walked turned the corner and walked into what seemed like a pizza shop. Judging by the time, it seemed like they were grabbing dinner. After an hour or so, the pair stepped out and started walking in the direction of Yonggwang University. Going to the university at this time? They must either be very hardworking or staying at the dorms, Jongin deduced. True to his deductions, the pair walked towards the cluster of dormitories nestled in a section of the university. Jongin wanted to continue tailing them, but stopped short when he realised that there was a guard stationed at the gate. Though he had a warrant with him, he didn't want to knock on their door and risk alarming Park Chanyeol. He decided to simply observe their movements for a few days.

  
  
For the next few days, Jongin stationed himself outside Chanyeol's apartment, noting down the other's daily routine. Chanyeol seemed to be an affectionate boyfriend, as he would leave his apartment early in the morning to visit the university dorms, where Jongin presumed his boyfriend stayed at. He would usually stay there or go to a laboratory in the university, before heading to the supermarket for his shift. After his shift ended, he either headed back to his apartment or visited the dorm.

  
  
Sometimes, his boyfriend would visit him at his apartment too. Jongin noted that he was of smaller stature, and had dark brown hair and puppy-like eyes. The two were practically glued to each other, especially the smaller man, who always clung to him even when they were outside. Chanyeol didn't have any suspicious behaviour like going out late at night alone either. Occasionally he would venture out at night, but this was always with his boyfriend in tow, and they would always go to obvious date spots like the mall or the movies.

 

On the fifth day, the first waves of frustration hit Jongin as he continued his seemingly fruitless mission.

 

On the sixth day, Jongin contemplated giving up on tailing Park Chanyeol and moving on to the other customers on the list.

 

It was when the week came to a close that Jongin finally noticed something terribly significant which didn’t make his efforts go down in vain. As the sky turned to dusk and further darkened into hues of cobalt blue, Jongin spotted Chanyeol stepping out of the supermarket after his shift and heading to the near-by bus-stop through the windscreen of his car. Ordinarily, this would simply be yet another insignificant observation to add to the numerous number of times Jongin had observed Chanyeol fruitlessly. Yet what caught the detective’s eye was the coat Chanyeol was wearing. There was no doubt about it, it was the limited edition Fenccini coat. He squinted as Chanyeol walked past in long strides, clueless about the fact that an eagle-eyed detective had been observing him for days and was training his gaze on him at this very moment, eyes glued to the buttons on his coat, counting them, one, two on the left side – a strong gust of wind blew his coat into the air and in that moment Jongin could clearly see the buttons on the other side, a white button with black vertical stripes and an empty spot where another button should have been.

 

Jongin’s breath hitched. He had done it. He had found the source of the missing button. There was no doubt about it. Park Chanyeol was connected to the case, to the eight people who had vanished mysteriously, and all that was left was to draw the connections together.

 

 

 

 

The moment Jongin reached the police station, he practically burst straight into Kyungsoo’s office, not even bothering to knock.

 

“Sir!”

 

Kyungsoo stopped his conversation with another officer, and looked at his assistant who had quite uncharacteristically barged into his office without even knocking, taking in his frazzled appearance. He quickly understood that it must be a matter of grave importance for the normally courteous Jongin to abandon his manners like that and quickly dismissed the officer he had been giving instructions to.

 

“Calm down Jongin, take a seat and tell me what happened.”

 

“Sir, I-I found him! The button! I found the man whom the button belongs to!” Jongin yelled.

 

Kyungsoo’s eyes widened in surprise. “Tell me about him.”

 

Jongin hurriedly composed himself, suddenly aware of his unsightly display, and quickly informed his superior on the man named Park Chanyeol, an employee at Seon Supermarket, throwing in some details about his daily routine.

 

“Seon Supermarket huh?” Kyungsoo mused, thinking to himself. Suddenly, a thought hit him. How could he not have thought of this before?

 

“Jongin, give me a map of the area surrounding Seon Supermarket.” Seon Supermarket, Seon Supermarket. How could they have overlooked something so simple?

 

A few minutes later, Jongin returned with a large map and some markers. Kyungsoo quickly cleared his desk and laid out the map on the mahogany table. He took a marker and circled the supermarket in red.

 

“Jongin, circle the places where the missing persons were last seen.”

 

The young detective did as instructed, having already committed the details of the case to memory.

 

When Jongin had finished circling the eight places, the two examined the map again. There it was, the connection was obvious. It was exactly as Kyungsoo had predicted. Despite the eight places being spread out and far away from each other, when their locations were pinpointed on a map and juxtaposed against the supermarket, the connection was clear as day. The supermarket was at the centre of all the places where the eight people had disappeared.

 

Without needing further explanation from Kyungsoo, Jongin came to the same realisation as his superior.

 

The two gazed at each other, realisation dawning on them.

 

“Sir…”

 

“We’re thinking the same thing. This is too much of a coincidence for it to be a mere triviality.”

 

“How should we proceed, sir?” Jongin inquired tentatively. He understood Kyungsoo’s words, however, the truth of the matter was, they still lacked any evidence to back up their claims.

 

His superior was silent for a moment.

 

“This time, we strike.”

 

 

 

 

Baekhyun laid across Chanyeol’s lap as he absent-mindedly read manga. The two were in Chanyeol’s laboratory, with the taller sitting on the small couch, reading what seemed to be a notebook intensely. Every now and then, his large hand would pat Baekhyun’s head soothingly or caress his cheeks. Baekhyun smiled as he felt the comforting warmth on his head. He didn’t mind that Chanyeol wasn’t paying him attention at all, in fact, he really enjoyed the comfortable atmosphere. In the past few weeks, he had grown closer to the dark-haired man, and a warm, fuzzy feeling would arise in his chest whenever he was around the taller. He spent his days reading manga or playing games in Chanyeol’s lab while he waited for the other to get off work. Sometimes, they would go out on dates during the day, and Chanyeol was always so sweet and affectionate towards him, even in public, that Baekhyun had grown to love that warm smile that the taller always gave him, until he no longer knew whether it was fake or genuine, until he ceased to stop caring.

 

At night, the experiments would start. While Baekhyun had been afraid and apprehensive at first, unsure of what Chanyeol would do to him, a small part of him – the twisted part – had been thrilled and excited. Eventually, he grew to enjoy even the experiments, no matter how much pain they put him in, no matter how much he had to endure, because the greater the pain, the greater the gain. He scoffed internally at his terrible joke. And he would be lying if he said he didn’t enjoy the experiments, because that twisted part of him, which he had long since come to accept, thrashed about in excitement and sinful desire whenever pain was inflicted on him, whenever he felt as if he was about to die. He had grown to love that sense of adrenaline that pumped through his veins without fail that time when Chanyeol had threatened to slit his throat – he could still remember the feeling of the knife pressing against his neck vividly, how good it had felt, how he came so hard when Chanyeol had fucked him while leaving cuts all over his milky white skin… Baekhyun shuddered. The thought alone was enough to turn him on. Chanyeol was perfect for him. Angel in the streets, devil in the sheets. Ha. Ha. Ha. He should really stop reading this manga, it was turning his own thoughts lame.

 

A knock on the door jolted the two out of their reverie. Baekhyun sat up, eyes darting worriedly to the door. Few people knew about Chanyeol’s laboratory and he didn’t have visitors. Who could it be?

 

“Stay here, I’ll check the door,” Chanyeol told him, gripping his hand reassuredly.

 

The taller took wary steps toward the door. There was no peephole so he would just have to open it to find out who was outside. He thought about who could possibly be outside but nothing came to mind. His professor was out of the question as he knew that the man was on holiday with his family. He didn’t have close friends either so besides his professor there was no one else who could possibly be looking for him.

 

Taking a deep breath, Chanyeol flung the door open. He came face-to-face with a man who was about the same height as him, with a mop of chestnut brown hair. The man seemed familiar, Chanyeol swore that he had seen him somewhere before, quite recently in fact.

 

“Good afternoon sir, I am Kim Jongin from the Seoul Police Department. May I inquire if you are Mr Park Chanyeol?” the man asked brusquely.

 

The moment he spoke, Chanyeol recalled where he had seen this man. It was the strange customer who had asked him about Fenccini a few weeks ago. Beads of sweat started to form on his forehead. It was uncharacteristic of him to feel anxious, but a sinking feeling in his gut told him that no good would come out of this encounter. Regardless, he couldn’t keep this man waiting forever. Unnecessary pauses would merely heighten his suspicion. He collected himself and replied in a calm, even tone.

 

“Yes, I am.”

 

The police officer, Kim Jongin, held up his license along with a search warrant.

 

“I would like to perform a search on your laboratory.”

 

Chanyeol pretended to be miffed at this sudden intrusion though internally his heart was racing and his palms were starting to sweat. Could it be that the police had found out about his experiments? He had been so meticulous when covering his traces though.

 

“Excuse me sir, I would appreciate it if you could at least tell me the reason why you have shown up at my laboratory all of a sudden. As far as I know, I haven’t done anything to offend the police,” Chanyeol said crossly.

 

“My apologies I neglected to explain myself. Mr Park, you are under suspicion for having kidnapped the following eight people: Kim Hyungseok, Park Hyuna, Lee Jisoo, Cha Hyungjun, Kim Joonhyung, Park Jihyun, Kim Yoonjae and Kim Minjoo.”

 

Chanyeol’s eyes widened in surprise.

 

“What are you saying? I haven’t kidnapped anyone,” he exclaimed in disbelief.

 

Behind him, Baekhyun glanced up timidly. What was going on?

 

Jongin merely motioned for the officer beside him to pass him a file, from which he took out a series of pictures. These included pictures of Chanyeol walking along the street, wearing his Fenccini coat, with the missing button. Jongin then held up a Ziploc bag containing a single button which matched the remaining buttons on Chanyeol’s coat.

 

“This button was found near a club where Lee Jisoo was last seen. This Fenccini coat is limited edition and exclusive to members. Of all the members who had purchased the coat, you are the only one who has lost a button. Naturally, that places you under the greatest suspicion.”

 

“That’s ridiculous, it’s just a button. I could have dropped it anywhere.”

 

Jongin gave him a long, searching gaze. At this point, Chanyeol noticed that there were several armed officers standing behind Jongin, their guns tucked securely into their holsters. He had been so preoccupied with Jongin that he hadn’t noticed at first. There were at least five of them, seven including Jongin and the officer beside him. There was no way he could escape seven armed officers without first being shot to death. He quickly evaluated his options. Jumping from the window was certain death. The laboratory was located on the sixth floor. There was no secret passageway either. If the police searched his freezer, he was done for. He would surely be put behind bars for the rest of his life. Then what about his experiment? What would Baekhyun do? He had just found the perfect subject; going to prison would be akin to wasting all his efforts. He would rather succumb to death alongside Baekhyun than go to jail. Their lives had already been inextricably intertwined, they were one.

 

It only took a split second for Chanyeol to bolt from the door and grab a startled Baekhyun from the sofa. He made a mad dash for the freezer, dragging the petite male along with him, and slammed the door shut just before he heard a storm of footsteps rushing into the laboratory. He quickly turned the knob, locking the door from the inside. The door was made of heavy reinforced steel, it wouldn’t break down simply from a few burly men throwing themselves at it.

 

He could hear Jongin cursing loudly and calling for backup from the outside but he didn’t care. He clutched the still bewildered Baekhyun to himself tightly, burying the other’s head in his heaving chest.

 

“Chanyeol, what’s going on? Why are the police here? Did they-did they find out?” Baekhyun pulled away and stared up at Chanyeol worriedly.

 

Chanyeol stared back into those big brown eyes. He stroked the brunette’s hair tenderly.

 

“It’s the end. They found out after all,” he laughed weakly.

 

Baekhyun clutched his hand tightly. A whirlwind of emotions was rising up within him but the strongest emotion of all was that he wanted to stay beside this person no matter what.

 

“No matter what happens, I will stay by your side.”

 

They slunk down the wall, in a corner as far away from the frighteningly strong air-conditioner as possible. They stayed close to each other, huddling together for warmth.

 

Baekhyun could feel his fingers turning numb. It had been less than five minutes but his whole body was already shuddering violently from the cold. He gazed at Chanyeol, their fingers still intertwined.

 

They were probably going to die here in this freezer, surrounded by rows of dead flesh. He had an idea of what Chanyeol had been doing, the kinds of experiments he had been conducting, but he had chosen to ignore all of that. Somewhere along the way, along their twisted path, he had found himself falling in love, if he could call it that, with the other. He still wasn’t sure of his feelings for the taller man who had a vice grip around his emotions, but he knew that he didn’t want to part with him. Even a moment apart felt like agony, like fire was searing his bones. He didn’t know what Chanyeol really thought of him, whether he was just another experimental subject or whether the taller actually loved him, but he figured Chanyeol probably wouldn’t want to spend his last moments with a person he hated.

 

Baekhyun chuckled mirthlessly.

 

“Chanyeol?”

 

The taller turned to look at him, his dark eyes as piercing as ever, like the fateful when they had first met.

 

“I love you.”

 

An unknown emotion flickered across the taller’s face.

 

Chanyeol squeezed his hand tighter.

 

“I love you too,” the words were whispered on his frozen lips.

 

 

 

 

“Park Chanyeol (23) and Byun Baekhyun (23) were found dead in a freezer in Park’s personal laboratory. Park was suspected of kidnapping eight people and ran into the freezer with Byun when the police requested to search his laboratory. The police broke down the freezer door with specialised equipment but Park and Byun were already dead.”

 

“Upon investigation, Park was found to have murdered the eight missing persons and used them for a grotesque personal experiment. The police is still conducting investigations on the nature of the experiment,” the newscaster continued gravely.

 

Kyungsoo switched off the TV.

 

Jongin had solved the case in the end, as he had expected. His achievement had elevated the status of the Missing Persons Division somewhat, and the other divisions finally looked to them with newfound respect.

 

He thought back to Park Chanyeol and Byun Baekhyun. The two had been found frozen to death in that freezer, their hands still tightly intertwined.

 

Just what had been going on in the minds of the two? What were Park Chanyeol’s motives? Did Byun Baekhyun have a role in these experiments or was he simply a victim? With their deaths, these questions would remain unanswered forever.

 

He was still pondering over the case when Jongin burst into his office in high spirits, obviously happy at having solved the case.

 

“Sir, let’s go! Everyone else is at the BBQ place already.”

 

Kyungsoo smiled at his bright assistant.

 

“Let’s go.”


End file.
